


A Birthday Present

by Jade_Dragoness



Category: Naruto
Genre: Being Reworked and Updated, Early Work, Fluff, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Romance, Set before the Chunin Exam, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Work In Progress, hints of SasuNaru
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2003-10-03
Updated: 2015-03-31
Packaged: 2018-03-18 09:14:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 7
Words: 24,763
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3564248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jade_Dragoness/pseuds/Jade_Dragoness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Naruto needs help finding a present for Iruka-sensei and he enlists Sakura and Sasuke to help him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Naruto Asks For Help

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this fic a lot time ago, so much so that most the time it languished in FF.net. With the end of the manga I've been rewatching Naruto and it reminded me of how much I love these characters and this pairing. So this fic is being updated and reworked..

“Come on guys,” Naruto whined piteously to his two teammates. Team 7 was once again waiting for the arrival of the arrival of their teacher, the jonin Kakashi Hatake. He was already over three hours late. 

Having yet to grown wise to his tactics, the team had been waiting the entire time.

“I need your help!”

Sasuke rolled his coal-black eyes and gave Naruto a mild glare. “You haven‘t told us what you need help for, dobe.”

Naruto snarled loudly at the insult but managed to bite back a scathing retort. He hated to admit it, but he really needed that bastard’s help.

Sakura gave Sasuke a starry-eyed glance before shooting Naruto a doubting look. She said, “It would help us if we knew what you needed help with.” Her green eyes narrowed to dangerous slits. She hissed, “Because if it‘s for some stupid prank….” The menacing aura which radiated off the kunoichi was impressive considering her young age.

“No, no,” Naruto said at once, shaking his head in frantic denial and making his blond hair flare out. “It isn‘t like that at all. I swear!”

“Then what is it?” Sakura asked impatiently, tapping her foot. 

“Umm,” Naruto said as he sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, grinning hopefully at his team. “I need help finding a present for Iruka-sensei. It’ll be his birthday in just three days on May 26th.”

Both Sakura and Sasuke gave Naruto two very surprised wide-eyed looks. 

“I didn‘t even know you knew the date of Iruka-sensei‘s birthday,” Sakura said startled. Then her eyes began to gleam with a typical girl’s fervent joy of shopping. Both Sasuke and Naruto exchanged frightened looks and backed away from the pink haired girl. They didn’t even noticed how they got closer to each other as if ready to jump to the other’s protection.

“Scary,” Naruto mumbled, his knees knocking together. Sasuke silently nodded in agreement and kept a wary on the maniacally grinning girl. He was used to a certain level of crazy from Sakura but this was a whole new level of disturbing.

“This is perfect!” Sakura cried out, her right clenched in a determined fist. “I haven‘t been shopping in ages. I’m always too busy training or on missions.” She spun around to face them, making both boys jump in shock. “Naruto! Do you know the sort of stuff that Iruka-sensei might like?”

Naruto crossed his hands in front of his chest and tilted his head forward. His face was uncharacteristically serious, his mouth in a deep frown and he closed his bright blue eyes as he thought. He hummed for a few seconds. Then he looked up at Sakura and Sasuke, giving both a huge toothy smile. Naruto said admitted, “I have no idea!”

'What!' Inner Sakura screamed while Outer Sakura looked ready to strangle Naruto.

Sasuke fought back a smile at Sakura’s expression and gave a Naruto a cold look. “You're such a loser.” 

“Hey! Stop calling me that!” Naruto protested. “Why do you think that I‘m asking for your help in the first place! If I knew the sort of stuff that an old guy like Iruka-sensei liked then I wouldn‘t _need your help,_ would I?”

Sakura drooped and gave the ground a 'Why-Me?' look.

A cheerful voice hailed them before a one-sided yelling match could erupt between Sasuke and Naruto. One-sided because Sasuke would coldly insult Naruto while Naruto did the actual screaming in return. It could go on for hours, especially when Sakura jumped in to defend Sasuke, unnecessarily. “Hello Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura. Is Kakashi-sensei late again?”

All of Team 7 turned to see the object of their discussion standing behind them.

“Aarghh!” Naruto and Sakura screamed as one. Sasuke willed his hand from clamping itself onto his chest in the attempt to calm down his rapidly beating heart. They hadn’t even heard Iruka walk up to them.

Iruka gave them an apologetic look, although the amusement dancing in his eyes detracted from its sincerity. “Ah sorry, I didn‘t mean to scare you guys like that. I thought you heard me walking up to you.”

“You shouldn‘t do that to people!” yelled Naruto. He crossed his fingers behind his back in hope that Iruka hadn’t managed to hear what they had been talking about. “You need to make more noise, Iruka-sensei! I just lost ten years of my life!”

Next to him Sakura nodded in silent agreement. 

Iruka just looked more amused, an expression which faded as he looked around. “How long have you guys been waiting here?” he asked curiously.

“Over three hours,” Sakura answered.

“Forever!” Naruto yelled. His stomach growled loudly. “I‘m so hungry.” He gave Iruka a pleading look.

“You‘re always hungry, idiot,” Sasuke told the other boy. “Stop trying to get Iruka-sensei to buy you ramen.”

Naruto glared back. “Shut up! Bastard!”

Sakura glared at Naruto for insulting Sasuke. Inner Sakura silently agreed with the blond boy that she could use some food. She’d only eaten a piece of toast this morning as part of a diet she was on but by now that toast had long since worn off. She could feel the rumbles in her tummy although they weren’t loud enough for the others to hear. Yet.

Iruka gave them another smile, and reached into one of the pockets of his green flak jacket. He pulled out three ration bars and held them out to the three genin. “I know that this isn't much of a substitute for a real meal but I don‘t think I should be taking you guys anywhere to eat if you were suppose to wait for Kakashi-sensei. Hopefully, this will hold you guys until you can eat something more filling.”

Eagerly, Naruto snatched one of the bars from Iruka’s hand, barely giving himself time to rip off the wrapper before he wolfed down. Sakura followed closely behind, said thank you and daintily nibbled the bar. Iruka held out the last ration bar to Sasuke, who gave the teacher an evaluating look before reluctantly reaching for it.

Naruto cheerfully chewed the bar, while beaming up at Iruka. This was the sort of small things that Iruka-sensei would do that endeared him to the blond boy. It just made him more determined than before to find a present which would really make the man happy. There just had to be something out there that could do that! He would find it, or his name wasn't Naruto Uzumaki!

“Trying to steal my students back, eh, Iruka-sensei?” called out a voice from above.

At once all the four ninjas turned to look and saw Kakashi looking down upon them from the top of a light pole with one visible eye clearly showing his good mood as it curved. 

“Good afternoon, Kakashi-sensei,” Iruka said cheerfully, a bright smile on his face.

Sakura turned towards Iruka the tone of his voice catching her attention. There was something very familiar in the way that Iruka-sensei had addressed Kakashi. She nibbled another bite of her ration bar as she tried to figure out what it could be.

“You’re late!” Naruto shout up to the jonin. 

“Ah. Ah.” Kakashi rubbed the back of his head. “I met this gorgeous babe in need of assistance. She was stuck in a tree!”

“Liar!” Naruto screamed, pointing accusingly at Kakashi.

Sakura’s hand tightened on her bar as she watched the cheerful smile on Iruka’s face drop, and the melancholy look creep into his eyes, even his shoulders slumped a little at Kakashi‘s mention of a ‘babe’. Now she remembered where she had heard that tone of voice before. It was the very same one that she and a bunch of other girls got when ever they were talking to Sasuke. It was that same infatuated voice and ‘I Love Just Being Near You’ expression that showed up with it. 

Her free hand trembled at the realization that Iruka-sensei was completely head-over-heels in love with Kakashi-sensei. Sasuke’s eyes flickered in her direction then followed her line of sight to Iruka. A small confused frown tugged at his lips.

Iruka shoved the sadness away and plastered a fake smile as Kakashi jumped down to join them. He silently admired Kakashi’s strong body and its graceful twist as he hit the ground feet first. He even loved the way the messy spiked silver hair moved in the light breeze. He shoved his hands into his pockets and began to walk away from the quartet. He called out behind him, “I have some homework to grade. I’ll see you guys later. If you guys aren‘t too exhausted I‘ll even treat to you ramen tonight.”

“Yeah!” Naruto screamed in joy. He raised hand and danced around as if in exuberant triumph of getting Iruka to buy them ramen. The blond completely ignored the fact that Iruka offered it out of his own free will.

“Hey,” Kakashi called out to the school teacher. “You can join us if you’d like. It's just training to today.”

Not willing to turn around Iruka waved a no. “Thanks for the offer but I’ve been putting off that work to do some chores all weekend. I really need to get it done!”

Kakashi shrugged and turned to face his students. His keen eye noticed the way Sakura was staring after Iruka. He wondered if she was finally shifting her crush from Sasuke onto Iruka, who actually had more of a possibility of responding than Sasuke. At that thought his breath hitched and an uncomfortable feeling settled inside him. He frowned and his gaze flicked back to Iruka‘s walking figure. The feeling dimmed away. Mentally shrugging at himself, Kakashi gleefully turned to today’s torture of Team 7.


	2. Everyone gets Ramen

Sakura stumbled away from the training ground. Sasuke and Naruto followed right behind her. They were so tired that they leaned on each other in order to keep from collapsing to the ground without. Unvoiced they were also behind their teammate to catch Sakura if she happened to fall. 

Kakashi followed behind them in a more sedate pace. His exhaustion was evident by the half-mast status of his single visible eye. He didn’t even bother to try to read ‘Icha Icha Paradise’, because every time he tried the pages blurred. Kakashi let his feet carry him back to the village while trying to maintain alert to any hidden danger from the forest. He only relaxed his outermost guard when they were actually inside the walls of the village but even then some part of him remained on alert and watchful of any possible threat. He was a jonin, there was a part of him that never relaxed.

“You guys look really tired.” All heads slowly turned in the direction of the speaker to find Iruka giving them all concerned looks. He walked towards them until he was standing besides them. “I don‘t suppose that you‘d be up for ramen? Or do you want a raincheck?”

“Ramen!” Naruto yelped at once. In his enthusiasm he jerked away from Sasuke to jump up and down. Sasuke nearly hit ground. The dark-haired boy have Naruto a half-hearted glare while wondering where in the world the idiot got that energy. While training Kakashi had them work harder than Sakura, and their own competitive nature had them using their chakra to its very limits in the attempt to outdo each other. Sasuke did had to admit to himself that the thought of food did give him a little energy.

Even Sakura perked up a bit

“I could go for some ramen,” Kakashi said, the corner of his eye crinkled in mischief. “I warn you though if I fall asleep then you‘ll have to take me home.”

Iruka blushed, a pink glow that spread itself across the scar on his nose. He teased right back, “I think my bed has room for two people.” He seemed to realize what he had said and slapped his hand across his mouth. He mentally groaned that he’d said such a thing before his former students. Children!

Naruto’s eyes nearly popped out of his head. Even Sasuke’s mouth dropped at Iruka’s words. They’d never heard Iruka-sensei say stuff like that! Sakura only looked triumphant and Inner-Sakura punched straight up.

Kakashi laughed and slung an arm around Iruka’s shoulder causing the brunet to turn even redder. “As long as I actually get some sleep at some point in the night,” Kakashi teased back, incredibly pleased by the other man's response. By now Iruka had turned a weird crimson color that should never be seen on a human face, Kakashi observed. It honestly would have worried him, as it reminded him of what happened when one opened chakra gates, but as Iruka's chakra remained the same, Kakashi was certain he could label it as terminal embarrassment rather anything else.

Outer-Sakura squeaked, and Inner-Sakura nearly swooned at the very vivid image those words produced. Had she been a boy she would have been suffering from a severe nosebleed, as it was she lost more than a few seconds as she drifted off in fantasy land.

Naruto’s jaw actually seemed to be scrapping the ground before Sasuke reached over and lifted it closed with his index finger. 

“You look more of a moron than usual,” Sasuke said derisively. Naruto snapped his teeth after the retreating finger in the attempt to bite his rival but Sasuke had read his intent and quickly jerked it out of range. 

“Ok. Lets go,” Iruka said. He was torn between staying under Kakashi’s arm and slowly dying as all his blood rushed to his face or pulling away and missing the weight of that muscled arm and its heat on his neck and shoulders. Deciding that staying in his current position would only give his feelings away, Iruka pulled away and turned to his former students. He tried to ignore how cold his neck now felt. “So how was your training?”

“Great!” Naruto beamed, distracted from his anger at Sasuke by having the attention of his favorite person in the world. “I totally kicked Sasuke‘s ass!”

“You did not,” Sasuke growled, insulted. Iruka may not longer by his sensei but it didn't stop him from wanting to look his best before him. “It took you forever to land one blow, loser.”

“Did not!” Naruto stuck his tongue out in retaliation. Sasuke’s glare intensified. Iruka just looked amused at the boys‘ eternal squabbling. 

Sakura was watching Iruka, she had seen the way that he’d reacted to Kakashi-sensei and had been surprised that he had managed to pull himself away from the other man. If it had been her under Sasuke’s touch, practically being held in his arms, nothing would have been able to drag her away from the boy. But then, she silently told herself, you aren’t the one that’s trying to keep your feelings hidden, are you?

She turned to watch Kakashi-sensei and blinked in surprise when she noticed that the jonin was watching Iruka-sensei. He didn’t even seem to be aware that he was watching every move her former teacher made. Sakura moved slightly to the back and the side so that she could watch both men. She noticed that Kakashi-sensei made sure that he was never more than a foot from Iruka and that for every breath the school teacher took he simultaneously took one. A copy ninja even in how he showed he cared. Sakura couldn’t help but feel amused. She bit back the urge to squeal with delight.

An idea began to percolate in the back of her mind. If Iruka liked Kakashi but wasn’t willing to tell the other man how he felt, and Kakashi seemed to care for Iruka but didn’t even seem to be aware of his feelings what had to be done to get them together? Especially, Inner-Sakura pointed out, if one of that duo’s birthday was coming up soon. The idea bloomed in her head, her green eyes began to gleam with unholy glee and her crazy smile returned.

She had the perfect present in mind to get Iruka-sensei. But she would need the help of her teammates.

As if realizing that Sakura was thinking about them, both Naruto and Sasuke paused in the middle of their squabble and turned to look at the girl. They shuddered in synchronized terror and huddled together as if to find safely in the other‘s presence. They fervently hoped that she wasn’t thinking about shopping again.

*-*-*-*

Iruka handed over the cash for the ramen bowls they had eaten to Teuchi and gave his thanks for the meal to him and his daughter Ayame. He looked to his right to see all of Team 7 asleep on the wooden counters of Ichiraku. He couldn’t help but smile at Sakura who leaned against Sasuke, who leaned onto Naruto, who in turned was a warm pressure on Iruka‘s side. He looked over to his left and watched Kakashi slowly sway in his seat. To Iruka’s alarm his eye was already closed. 

“Hey,” Iruka whispered urgently. “Don‘t fall asleep, Kakashi-sensei!”

Kakashi seemed not to hear him because he slowly fell onto Iruka’s shoulder. An arm curled around the brunet’s waist. A slow puff of breath huffed against Iruka’s neck even through Kakashi‘s mask. 

Iruka’s cheeks burned. His skin’s sensitivity increased. He was aware of every movement the other man made. In his mind, he saw himself sink his face into that silvered hair and just breathe in the man’s scent. Hell, the man had spent hours training his team and he still smelled good. It tempted Iruka. It would be so easy, he could move Kakashi onto his lap and finally peel away that mask that was hiding a face he desperately wanted to see. He could kiss those lips and confess how much he wanted him.

Iruka frantically shook his head to get the images out but they refused to budge. However much he was enjoying having the other man near him, Ichiraku would soon close down for the night and they had to get the genins to their homes. Anyway, he had pretty certain that if he went for that mask, or even just manhandled Kakashi in any way the other man would probably drive a kunai into him on reflex. 

If Iruka was lucky. Kakashi was a jonin after all, rumored to be former ANBU. A simple kunia would be a kindness.

“Kakashi-sensei! Kakashi,” Iruka hissed into Kakashi’s ear. “Wake up!”

Kakashi mumbled something that Iruka didn’t catch and just snuggled into the chunin. Iruka rolled his eyes at his own happy feelings bubbling away in delight at this ridiculous situation before resorting to extreme measures. He decided to poke Kakashi awake. Hopefully he would't get killed for his trouble.

Considering and wondering if he could have saved one of the chopstick for this rather than risk a broken finger, Iruka cautiously reached out.

Poke. Surprisingly no kunai hit Iruka for that move. So he tried again. Carefully, in case the lack of retaliation had been a fluke.

Poke. Poke.

The last poke earned Iruka a low giggle that just melted his heart at its adorableness. He stared wide-eyed at Kakashi, stunned by the fact that the dangerous jonin was ticklish (and that no kunai had appeared). A decidedly evil grin appeared on Iruka’s face. He threw caution to the wind and launched a full out attack on the jonin’s sides. In seconds, Kakashi was laughing and struggling to wake up to defend himself. His own movements made him fall to the ground were he blinked up at a laughing Iruka while wondering what in the hell had just happened. He rubbed his sore ribs and figured out how he had been attacked.

“You tickled me!” Kakashi said in an indignant tone.

“And you feel asleep,” Iruka told him, not wanting to mention that the jonin had used him as a pillow. “I had to wake you up somehow since calling your name didn‘t work.”

Kakashi’s single visible eye widened in surprise. He’d actually fallen asleep? He couldn’t believe it. It had been years since he had been able to relax his guard in another’s presence to sleep so deeply without having any of his mental alarms go off when the other person moved. It was even longer since he’d slept through his name being called. That alone should have snapped him awake in case it was a warning of oncoming danger from a fellow shinobi. Unable to think of something to say in retaliation, and partially because he was still half asleep, Kakashi just blinked at Iruka once again. 

“Oh,” he said numbly. No matter how tried he was, having spent all day training his genin brats, and having come back from a mission last night there was no excuse for his lapse in defenses. 

Iruka snickered. He stood up and held out his hand to the jonin. He half-expected the man to ignore it but was pleasantly surprised when Kakashi used it to lever himself to his feet. “Come on, Kakashi-sensei. I need your help to get these kids home.”

Kakashi looked at his students that were still sleeping, too tired to be awoken by the antics of the two adult ninjas. Silently he added to flaw the list of habits he really needed to train of his team. None of them should have still been sleeping through the racket he'd made just falling off the stool. 

“I better carry Naruto and Sasuke,” Kakashi said. Iruka gave him a questioning glance, and Kakashi silently pointed out something Iruka hadn’t noticed. Sasuke, while leaning against Naruto, had developed a death grip on the other boy’s arm and on the inside of the orange jacket. It didn’t look as if he planned to let go anytime soon. 

Iruka smiled at the sight. He turned back to Kakashi to see the ninja pull out a small camera out of his pocket and take a picture of the two boys. Kakashi grinned, widely enough to be obvious even through his mask. “Future blackmail material.”

Iruka laughed at the image of a grown up Naruto and Sasuke trying desperately to gain the picture from a chortling Kakashi. “I‘m going to want a copy,” Iruka said.

Kakashi, who’d been gloating over his new pictures, shot the teacher a surprised glance. “I didn‘t know that you were like that, Iruka-sensei. ” He grinned underneath his mask, his eye curving to show his mirth. “I guess still waters do run deep, at least in your case.”

“No, no, it’s not like that,” Iruka protested as he shook his head in denial. He was could feel the heat returning to his cheeks. “I actually don‘t have that many pictures of Naruto and would enjoy to have one more.” He rubbed the back of his head as he tried to articulate his thoughts through the fluster he felt. “I have the original graduation picture that he took and a few others of him when he was younger but I‘m never really had one of him without him making some sort of weird face.”

Kakashi returned the camera to one of his pockets on his flak jacket as he watched the other man. “You really care about Naruto, don‘t you?” he asked quietly. 

Iruka could practically feel the man assessing him without even looking at him, 

“Yeah,” Iruka gazed at Naruto’s snoring face and smiled. “I know that a lot of people in this village wouldn‘t understand but he‘s really a sweet kid. He can be rude and crude but underneath that he‘s one of the most caring individuals I‘ve ever met. I‘ve spent so much time looking after him that he‘s become like a little brother to me.”

Kakashi felt a warm glow inside him as he watched the smile on Iruka’s face. It had been so long since he had been willing to let anyone into his heart that he’d forgotten what it felt like to care for someone else so deeply. He didn’t want to go through the pain of losing them all over again. He knew he didn't have the strength, at least not without it breaking him in ways he would never recover from. Kakashi looked down at Naruto wondered at the caliber of a man that was willing to look after and love someone that held within them the cause of their greatest suffering. 

He certainly hadn't been able to do it for a long time.

Kakashi's respect and admiration for the other ninja rose several notches. 

Silently, still lost in thought over contemplation of the school teacher, Kakashi grabbed Naruto and Sasuke and tucked them under each arm. Across his chest, sprawled Sasuke’s arms as he refused to let go of the other boy.

Equally silent, Iruka picked up Sakura and settled her against his chest and arms, cradling her like a baby. The tender way that he held her reinforced Kakashi’s impression school teacher genuinely cared for every single one of his students, current and former. His heart twisted at the sight, he felt jealousy, hot and fast, curl inside him. He blinked and wondered at himself at the cause of such a vicious feeling.

“We should take Sakura home first. She lives closer to here than the others and her parents are probably wondering about her well being,” Iruka said, interrupting Kakashi’s train of thought .

Kakashi agreed with a silent nod.


	3. Resisting Jonin Temptations

“Thank you for bringing her home, Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei,” a tall woman, looking very much like an adult Sakura, although her hair was a dark color of pink, bowed her gratitude to the two men. She took Sakura in her arms, holding the girl in a mother’s loving embrace.

Iruka gave her a wistful look. The mother's tender expression as she held her daughter was memory evoking, but then, loving parents always were. “You’re welcome, it was our pleasure, Mrs. Haruno. Good night.”

“Good night,” Sakura’s mother said as she gently closed the door with her foot.

Iruka glanced at Kakashi and saw him watching him. He fought a blush which threatened to rise to his face. He was somewhat exasperated he was on a hair-trigger when it came to the other man. He honestly didn't blush so much with anyone else. Okay, yes, he blushed more than most chunins but Kakashi made it worse. “Has Sasuke let up on Naruto yet?” Iruka asked Kakashi, while carefully looking at the two genins. 

“He‘s still holding on with all his strength,” Kakashi said dryly, although still amused. “How are we planning on separating them? Because I don't think even I have a ninjutsu that could do it, at least no without waking them up. Or using a kunai on one of them.”

Iruka chewed on his lip as he thought. While he knew the addresses of his former students, due to needing to send reports home, he’d never actually had to visit Sasuke’s house. On the other hand, he did have a key to Naruto’s home, given to him by Naruto so he could water his plants whenever the boy was away in a mission. With it they could just visit Naruto’s apartment and leave both boys there. The problem, arose from having to separate Sasuke from Naruto and both boys' reactions when they woke in the morning if the teachers failed to split them. 

Iruka explained that to Kakashi, who laughed at the image. “It would give me the opportunity to get more blackmail material.” Kakashi’s eye turned up, happy and sparkling.

Iruka couldn’t help but laugh at Kakashi’s joy. He shook his head and followed beside him as the jonin sped up, eager to get his pictures. They swiftly arrived and entered Naruto’s home. Inside, Iruka nearly cracked his head against the floor as he tripped over some loose scrolls when he tried to find the light switch. Iruka swore under his breath and promised to get Naruto to clean his place even if he had to withhold ramen to get him to do it.

Kakashi chuckled.

With the light on, the two ninjas quickly and safely navigated to Naruto’s bedroom. Kakashi settled both boys on the bed and pulled out his camera. He snapped away like a person possessed. Iruka, smiled at the maniacal look in the man’s eye and sat down on the foot of the bed. He slowly took off each of the boys’ shoes and outer gear. He made sure to take off their forehead protectors and keep each pile separate, so when they boys woke they’d be able to distinguish whom owned what.

Watching Iruka’s actions, Kakashi got an idea. If Naruto and Sasuke could sleep while being manhandled then it would be rather easy to move both into ‘interesting’ positions.

“What are you thinking?” asked Iruka warily. He wondered what horrible thought had put such a speculative look in the man‘s eye. Kakashi practically radiated evil glee. It was more than a little disturbing to Iruka's teacher instincts. He was used to feeling such a level of devilish delight when one of students was about to try to pull a prank on him.

Kakashi held his index finger up to his mask to silence Iruka. He crept up on the boys and shifted them around. He set Naruto so he sprawled on top of Sasuke with his arms wrapped around the dark-haired boy’s waist and his mouth pressed against the other boy's cheek. He took several pictures of this adorable scene from various angles before shifting them around again.

Meanwhile, Iruka had his face hidden in his hands, trying desperately not to laugh or scold Kakashi for his actions. He felt a twinge of guilty because of what he was witnessing being done to an unsuspecting Naruto and Sasuke but he had to admit that he was also enjoying the fun Kakashi was clearly having. Iruka consoled himself with that thought that he would offer to buy both of the boys ramen at some later date as an apology although he’d never tell them why he was doing so. He peeked through his spread fingers to see Kakashi taking pictures of a Naruto that was sitting on Sasuke’s lap. Sasuke’s head tilted forward of if he was kissing the top of Naruto’s hair and the blond boy was snuggled under Sasuke’s chin with a hand loosely holding onto the brunet’s blue shirt. He knees were tucked in and his free arm curled around Sasuke‘s waist. During all the movements Sasuke still maintained his tight grip on Naruto. 

Emotionally caught by sweetness of the scene, Iruka could stand no more, “Enough, Kakashi-sensei.”

Reluctantly, the jonin snapped one last picture and moved the boys apart on the bed. Iruka tucked the blankets up to the boys’ chins before tiptoeing out of the room. Kakashi waited for him outside as he leaned against the wall. His exhaustion had returned with a vengeance.

Iruka stopped in front of the jonin. He furrowed his brow and asked softly, “Are you alright?”

“Just tired,” Kakashi admitted. Next time, he’d have to remember to give himself more time to rest when he had to train the brats when he’d just come from such a chakra draining mission. Or maybe just set up a D mission that could let him relax as he watched the brats run around.

The words were barely out of Kakashi’s mouth when the jonin began to slump down the wall. Iruka was taken completely by surprise. It was pure reflex that had Iruka reaching out to catch the other man before he hit the floor. 

“Kakashi-sensei! Are you alright?” Iruka asked, in concern and bewilderment. All he got as an answer was Kakashi’s soft and deep breathing. Iruka realized the other man had fallen asleep. Just like that.

Stunned, he stood there with his arms holding the object of his desires and affection. He slowly sank to the ground, and pulled Kakashi onto his lap. He remember his brief fantasy at the ramen shop. He breathed in the scent of Kakashi’s hair. The scent was purely Kakashi, since ninjas had the habit of using scentless soaps and shampoos so they didn‘t give their position away to sensitive noses. 

He slowly petted the soft silver hair, intrigued by the lack of hair gel to create the spikes. He wondered in Kakashi used some sort of hair jutsu to make it so gravity defying. His hand drifted down to the mask, and remembered the dream of peeling it back, kissing the man and telling Kakashi how he felt. Hovering over the black mask, Iruka was torn. He had been dying forever to know what lay beneath the man’s mask but now that he had the opportunity he hesitated. The vulnerability the jonin was exposing to Iruka made the school teacher want to protect him. He didn’t want to take advantage of Kakashi. 

Iruka dropped his hand to his leg and closed his eyes to block the captivating view of Kakashi in his lap. He knew that if he exploited his advantage, saw the other man's face without his consent and the jonin found out about it then there would never be any trust between them. He could satisfy his curiosity and potentially lose the other man forever. Or he could resist the urge and be patient that one day Kakashi would willingly lower his mask so that he could see all of the man without any barriers. 

Even if the man never wanted to be more than friends it would so much worse if he mistrusted and detested Iruka and wanted nothing to do with him.

Iruka tried to image how he would feel to have Kakashi unmask himself for him. He could see the silvered hair man slowly reach up and pull back the black material from his face. His eyes would be smiling and glowing with emotion. Then Iruka would see the man’s entire face. Because Kakashi _wanted_ him to see. 

The mental image made his chest tight, and he breathed out slowly. Iruka opened his brown eyes to stare at the ceiling. He’d felt so much joy imagining Kakashi lowering his mask with his own hand that he knew that he would be happier to just wait until Kakashi decided to reveal himself. Iruka could never make himself steal the man’s privilege to decide who to share himself with. However selfish his own desire for the man ran Iruka would just have to wait until the man was willing to trust him enough. Iruka looked down and swiftly dropped a chaste kiss below the jonin’s visible closed eye. 

He pulled the other man’s arm over his shoulder, tightly gripped him at the waist and stood up only to stagger. _Kakashi is a lot heavier than he looks,_ thought Iruka in surprise. It had to be all the muscle he felt under the man’s uniform. Having to adjust for the weight Iruka shifted Kakashi into his arms. He was grateful that he hadn’t been slacking off in his taijutsu training in the years since he’d become an Academy teacher. At least from this position he would be able to carry the jonin.

Iruka shifted mental gears and tried to figure out what he’d do with an unconscious gorgeous Kakashi. He firmly ignored the lecherous parts of his mind that were willing to offer several _helpful _suggestions. He could try to take Kakashi to his own home, or rather Iruka _would_ , if he actually knew where it was located. He did have the option to take Kakashi to his own home like they’d joked about earlier today but regardless of his earlier comment, the only way his bed would fit two people was if they were laying atop one another. Iruka wasn’t willing to test the boundaries of his self-control by spending the night that close Kakashi. He could give the older man the bed and collapse on the couch. He wouldn’t have the best time sleeping or feel terribly rested the next day but at least temptation would be out of reach. __

__He was lucky that his class tomorrow was primary lecture, and with a small demonstration near the end of class. He had a feeling if he had to show some complex move he’d make a fool of himself before all those kids. And the little hellions would never let him forget it._ _

__He leaned the jonin against his side to get his door opened while using his other hand to hold Kakashi in place. Iruka walked swiftly to the bedroom, carrying Kakashi was making his shoulders ache, his back twinge from an old wound and his upper back spasm from a more recent one, (he mentally cursed Mizuki for the thousandth time) and gently lowered the jonin on top of the bed. He did the same thing he’d done for Sasuke and Naruto. He removed all the outer gear, carefully setting the flak jacket with the scroll holders next to Kakashi so the other man would have easy reach if he happened to awaken some point in the night. He also removed the sandals, bandages, inner jacket and body armor. He left the man clad in his pants and black inner shirt. And of course the mask. Iruka debated whether or not to remove the forehead protector with the Konoha leaf sigil. He knew that Kakashi wore the protector in its crooked fashion to hide the Sharingan eye to keep it from draining his chakra and to prevent the overload of information from having it constantly exposed._ _

__After finding out who would be taking Naruto as a jonin instructor, Iruka has spent a lot of time talking to various chunin and jonin who knew the man. He had even made a point of asking the Hokage about Kakashi. He had learned a lot of interesting things, both real and rumored, tame and outrageous but for he heard about the man none of it had been deeply personal._ _

__One of the few real facts that he’d been able to verify with more than one source had been the knowledge that there was a Sharingan eye implanted Kakashi’s left eye socket. And how when the jonin had first received it he’d nearly gone insane with from the constant flow of information and the way the eye could see below the surfaces of most facades. Apparently, those with Uchiha blood also had their brains wired in a specific way that allowed to use the Sharingan without being driven mad by it. It had been something that hadn‘t been known before since Kakashi was the first recipient of a transplanted Sharingan who was also not an Uchiha. It had been pure luck that Kakashi turned out to be one of the few non-Uchiha to have a similar mind to a member of that clan. Had the man been any different then he would not have survived having the eye constantly activated. Only by covering the Sharingan whenever it was not in use did Kakashi prevent his descent into madness or complete chakra depletion._ _

__It was from learning this that Iruka began to truly admire Kakashi and not just because of his legendary shinobi skills. The strength of will shown in staying sane under such harsh conditions took his breath away._ _

__Iruka shook himself out of the memory and remembered that he had a black silk scarf, given to him as a gift a few years ago. It should be clean because he never wore it. It simply wasn't his style. He thought that it would be perfect to cover the Sharingan eye. It took Iruka just moments to find it. Swiftly, he replace the protector with the scarf. Now Kakashi would be more comfortable in his sleep. He set the forehead protector on top of the flak jacket and walked out of his room, careful to silently close the door behind him._ _

__Iruka yawned, feeling incredibly tired himself by the small roller coaster of emotions that he’d dealt with. Iruka walked over to a closed door and pulled out a spare blanket. He undressed, being careful to leave his weapons within easy reach and stretched out on the couch. For once, he thanked whomever had seen fit to make him an average height because on the couch only his feet dangled off._ _

__With one last yawn and a sleepy look towards the closed door that let to his bedroom, Iruka drifted off into a dream-filled slumber._ _

__*-*-*-*_ _

__“What? Huh? What?” Sakura yelped as she shot upright on he bed. She blinked in bewilderment at her at the familiar sight of her own room. She was even wearing her favorite pair of pajamas. The last thing the pink haired girl remembered was eating the ramen that Iruka-sensei had bought for the whole team. She didn’t have any memory of going home._ _

__“What?” she asked again to the empty room. Then she grimaced in disgust at the feel of fuzzy film over her teeth. “Oh, yuck.” She hurried towards the bathroom to brush her teeth. As she went through the automatic motions of cleaning her mouth, Sakura’s mind drifted to yesterday and the situation with Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei. Her green eyes lit up as she also remembered her idea for getting the two men together. Inner-Sakura did a quick dance of joy._ _

__She _had_ to go talk to Sasuke and Naruto._ _

__She quickly finished her teeth and ran to her room to get dressed. She spent only half an hour getting ready and considering that she planned on seeing Sasuke that day it was a very fast dressing speed. Still running she went to the kitchen to grab a piece of toast. She chewed the toast quickly, nearly choking on it, as she screamed goodbye to her mom._ _

__As Sakura headed towards Naruto’s home, she rushed by the few people who actually enjoyed being awake at such an unholy early hour of the morning._ _

__Outside the door of Naruto‘s home, she paused to catch her breath and look tidy. Then she knocked. She frowned when no one came to answer the door. Sakura knocked with more strength. Still no one came. Finally her patience snapping, she began to furiously pound on the door._ _

__“Wake up, Naruto! Wake up!” she yelled. “Damnit Naruto! You're the one that asked for help in the first place! WAKE UP!”_ _

__*-*-*-*_ _

__Inside, a still sleeping Sasuke and Naruto vaguely heard the first knock on the door. The sound pushed them out a pleasant dreams (of finding the world's only all-you-can-eat ramen bar for Naruto) and with each consequent knock they grew more and more awake. Until Sakura’s fierce screaming made them open up their eyes._ _

__They woke to find each other no more than a couple of inches away. Black eyes and blue eyes widened in shock and both boys leaped apart and screamed._ _

__“Aarrrgggh!”_ _

__*-*-*-*_ _

__Outside the house Sakura’s green eyes widened as she heard twin screams from inside Naruto’s home. She frantically began looking for a way in. Focusing her chakra towards her feet she ran up the wall to find an open window._ _

__*-*-*-*_ _

__“What are you doing here?” Sasuke and Naruto shouted at each other._ _

__Naruto looked around desperately and yelled, “This is my room, asshole!”_ _

__Sasuke gave the unfamiliar room a bewildered look. He yelped, “What am I doing here?”_ _

__“That‘s what I want to know!” Naruto clutched at his hair with his eyes even wider than before._ _

__“Shut up!” Sasuke glared. “I‘m trying to think!”_ _

__“Good luck with that,” Naruto snorted._ _

__“Last thing I remember is eating ramen,” Sasuke said coldly, ignoring the blond. He had backed up into a corner away from Naruto and was tensed to move if the other boy made any threatening move. Not that he would blame him if he did, thought Sasuke, considering he was in Naruto’s room without his consent._ _

__The word ramen sparked a chain of memories in Naruto._ _

__“Oh yeah,” Naruto said. “Iruka-sensei offered to buy us ramen. I remember eating four bowls!” Naruto’s drooled over the memory of the most delicious food in existence._ _

__“I also remember feeling tired,” Sasuke said, trying not to make a disgusted face as Naruto’s drool began to drip onto the blankets. He edged away not wanting to risk it touching him. He was willing to put up a lot when it came to his teammate but Sasuke drew the line at drool._ _

__Naruto snapped out of his imaged ramen heaven. “So we must have fallen asleep.”_ _

__“And either Kakashi-sensei or Iruka-sensei took us to your home.”_ _

__“And Iruka-sensei has a key, so he can get in without any trouble,” Naruto said softly. Naruto jumped to his feet and glared at the ceiling. He shook a fist in anger. “I‘ll get them for leaving you here!” Naruto plopped back onto the bed and crossed his arms. He scowled as he plotted ways to have revenge on both teachers. He wouldn’t let them get away with this._ _

__Both boys jumped as the bedroom door burst open with a bang and Sakura stood there, staring at both of them. Her green eyes took in the undressed state of her teammates and the obviously slept in bed. Her quick mind came to the fastest, most logical conclusion of what the boys had been up to._ _

__“Sakura!” Naruto yelped. He shot Sasuke a desperate look before turning back to Sakura. He frantically waved the his arms in front on him as he watched Sakura’s face become dark and scary. “It‘s not what it looks like.”_ _

__“Naruto,” Sakura intoned in a deathly voice. “What were you doing to Sasuke?”_ _

__“Nothing,” Naruto squeaked. Sasuke looked as cool and detached as ever._ _

__Sakura formed a fist with her right hand and used the left to crack her knuckles. Inner-Sakura was giving bloody suggestions on what to do to Naruto for spending the night with Sasuke. She advanced on the blond boy, who looked frantically around to find an escape route. The only window was ‘conveniently’ blocked by Sasuke. The brunet closed his eyes as if in deep thought although in reality he didn’t want to see a strong ninja get massacred by a girl. Even if she was a tough ninja in her own right._ _

__“It wasn‘t my fault,” Naruto wailed, in one last futile attempt to dissuade his homicidal teammate._ _

__Once again the peace and silence that reigned early in the mornings of the Hidden Leaf Village was shattered by screams._ _

__Minutes later, Sakura sat outside in the living room on a chair. She was carefully wrapping her right hand in medical bandages and ignored Naruto who was on the floor and moaning in pain. He had vividly colored lumps and bruises all over his face, so many that even his ‘whisker’ scars weren‘t visible under all the damage._ _

__After a couple minute of this Sasuke got tired of Naruto’s complaints and reached into one of his pockets to pull out a medicinal cream used to prevent infection and accelerate healing. He silently handed it to the other boy. Naruto blinked in surprise the one eye which was still visible under all the damage._ _

__“It will make you heal faster. Don’t waste it,” Sasuke said flatly. He returned to his seat near the open windowsill and went back to staring outside._ _

__By the time Sakura had finished the first aid to her torn knuckles and Naruto had spread the cream on his wounds, the girl’s rage had all but vanished. During the bandaging she’d had time to revert to her earlier mood and idea for getting Kakashi-sensei and Iruka-sensei together._ _

__“I think I have an idea for the perfect gift for Iruka-sensei,” she said, breaking the silence that had befallen the room._ _

__“Yeah?” Naruto screamed happily. He’d already forgotten about his earlier plans to get back at the teachers for leaving Sasuke with him all night. “What? What?” he asked eagerly. “What is it? Is it food? Will he love it? Can we go get it know?” With each question the noisiest ninja in the village grew louder and bouncier. He was incapable of retaining his excitement._ _

__“Idiot,” Sasuke interrupted. “Let her speak.”_ _

__Naruto stuck his tongue out in retaliation for the insult. It nearly drove him crazy to admit it to himself but Sasuke giving him that medicine made him feel more forgiving of the boy’s insult. Not that Naruto wouldn't want to get back at him but getting a great present for Iruka-sensei was so much more important!_ _

__Not bothering to be subtle, Sakura asked both boys, “You guys know that Iruka-sensei has feelings for Kakashi-sensei, right?”_ _

__In his shock, Sasuke lost his balance and fell out through the window._ _

__Naruto’s eyes rolled back and he swayed as if he’d keel over in a faint at any second._ _

__Sakura gave Naruto an annoyed look and blinked in shock as she noticed the lack of Sasuke in the room._ _

__“Sasuke!” she screamed and ran over to look out the window. Sakura looked down and caught a heated glare sent up to her by Sasuke. The boy was attached feet first to the wall of the apartment building. He had used his quick reflexes to turn so he would be facing in the right direction while simultaneously concentration his chakra to his feet. He walked up and climbed back inside. He gave Naruto a worried glance. Neither of his teammates noticed Sasuke‘s expression. Sakura was still annoyed at the blond and returned to glaring at him._ _

__Naruto was sprawled on his back, dazed and confused. He stared at the ceiling as if he’d never seen such an amazing sight. Over and over Sakura’s question circled his mind. He couldn’t believe it. Iruka-sensei, the only person who’d ever paid attention to him as he grew up over the years, in love with Kakashi-sensei?_ _

__“But they have nothing in common!” Naruto protested aloud. “How can he, and him?” Naruto waved his arms in the air as if trying to force his thoughts into visual shapes. “What would Iruka-sensei see in him?”_ _

__“Other than he‘s a strong ninja, extremely loyal to his fellow ninjas and this village, and good looking as much as we‘ve seen?” Sakura asked. She shrugged. “How would I know? I haven‘t asked him. Love works in mysterious ways,” she sighed, sneaking Sasuke a shy look._ _

__“But--,” Naruto said as he pushed himself to his feet. “Kakashi-sensei is always late, he always lies about why, he’s always wearing that mask so he could be _really_ hideous, his sense of humor is just too weird and from reading those 'Icha Icha' books he‘s also got to be a total pervert!”_ _

__Sasuke silently agreed with Naruto. He really couldn’t see what the school teacher would see in someone as odd as Kakashi. However, Sakura’s observational skills and logic reasoning surpassed his own. So if there was any one who would be able to see something developing between the two men it would be Sakura._ _

__“You don‘t believe me?” Sakura said dismayed. She didn’t think that the boys wouldn’t believe her about what she had seen._ _

__“It‘s not that I don‘t believe you,” Naruto said, reassuringly. “It‘s just that I‘m having a really hard time imaging Iruka-sensei in love with anyone! Let alone Kakashi-sensei.”_ _

__“Oh.” Sakura tried to think of plan. “What if…” she said hesitantly. “What if I could show you what I saw when they were interacting? Would you believe it then?”_ _

__“I think so,” Naruto agreed. He looked over to see Sasuke back on the windowsill and staring outside. “Hey, Sasuke! What do you think?!”_ _

__“I think we should trust our teammate, loser.”_ _

__Sakura’s eyes filled with pink hearts at the expression of trust from Sasuke. Inner-Sakura began cheering and waving fans in absolute joy. The pink haired girl’s face took on a blissful look as she silently planned her wedding to Sasuke and the names of all the children they’d have._ _

__Sasuke slowly inched away from her._ _

__Naruto sulked so he didn’t notice how the brunet had moved to put him between Sakura and himself. Once behind his blond shield, Sasuke relaxed._ _

__“I still like to see some proof,” Naruto grumbled. His words snapped Sakura out of fantasy world where she had been counting her number of grandchildren._ _

__“Actually, that wouldn‘t be a bad idea,” she admitted, suppressing the urge to snarl at Naruto for interrupting her lovely daydream. “We should follow them whenever they interact so you guys can see what I mean. Also I really want to be sure. So I want your verification.”_ _

__“You want us to follow Iruka-sensei and Kakashi-sensei around,” Naruto asked in disbelief. “Kakashi-sensei is a jonin! And Iruka-sensei is chunin. Both are higher than genin! Do you really think they wouldn‘t notice us stalking them?”_ _

__“For once the idiot is right,” Sasuke said. “If we did that and they caught us what would we say to explain ourselves? It‘s not like we can tell them the truth.” Sasuke suppressed at shudder at what their jonin teacher would do to them in retaliation._ _

__Sakura’s head drooped forward. She hadn’t thought of that. And it would be disastrous if the older ninjas noticed what they were doing. It would spoil everything that she was planning._ _

__“Unless...” Naruto said. Sakura’s head snapped up in hope. “Unless, we can tell them something else. Like we‘re following them as a training exercise. To practice our ability to sneak around and after ninja with more training and experience.”_ _

__Sakura beamed at the blond. “That‘s perfect, Naruto!”_ _

__The boy blushed at her rare praise. He shot Sasuke a look to see if the boy had noticed but Sasuke’s face was as implacable as ever. Naruto’s blush turned to a flush of anger at the way the other boy ignored his great idea._ _

__“So if we do agree with your assessment, what do you have planned?” Sasuke asked. “And how will that help in getting Iruka-sensei a birthday present?”_ _

__“Well,” said Sakura, while Inner-Sakura rubbed her hands in anticipation. “I was thinking that we could…”  
*-*-*-*-_ _

__Suddenly, the bright morning of the village was interrupted for the third and final time as two male voices shouted in disbelief, “YOU WANT US TO DO- WHAT?!”_ _


	4. Obeying the Apron

In a dark room, a pale hand twitched in the reflexive act of reaching for and throwing a kunai at the muffled sounds of rattling cookware that filtered through the wooden door of the bedroom. When the noise failed to end in a swift and bloody death, a single blue-gray eye slowly opened. The bleary look vanished instantly as the owner failed to recognize his location. Faster than the normal human eye (or even most shinobi eyes) could follow Kakashi was standing up and behind the most defensible position in the room. He was confused as he noticed that whatever enemy ninja had captured him had seen fit to not only provide him with a rather comfortable bed but had also set his weapons, uniform and armor within easy reach.

The final clue he received hadn’t actually been captured by an enemy was the framed picture of Naruto and Iruka set on a small table next to the bed. Naruto was sticking his tongue out while grinning and crossing his arms, his hands in rude symbols. Iruka was trying to bring down Naruto’s arms, and a small scowl twisted his mouth. Only if a person looked into the light brown eyes he or she would have seen Iruka's eyes sparkling with good humor.

Kakashi turned to his gear and got dressed. When he saw of his forehead protector on the gear pile his hand instinctively slapped up to cover the Sharingan. The jonin found a soft material on his face and pulled it off. It was a black scarf. Kakashi had to smile. If ever he needed proof of Iruka’s mother-henning behavior, well now he had it, because most people wouldn’t have thought to replace the forehead protector. They would have assumed that he would be so used to constantly wearing it that he would even wear it to sleep.

He paused to wonder if the other man had also opened his mask. Kakashi slowly checked the hidden fastenings of the mask. He was loathe to mistrust Iruka considering his growing appreciation of the man but he knew there were many people that were willing to go to great lengths for the littlest of peeks. He relaxed when his fingers found the fastenings still in the specific pattern he always set them in. Iruka had resisted the urge to pull down his mask. The jonin could hardly believe it. 

Kakashi could name on one hand the number of people who wouldn’t take advantage of such an opportunity. Hell, he wouldn’t even trust his genin team not to give in to their curiosity if given half a chance.

He stared at the black silk scarf in his hand as he tried to figure out why Iruka hadn’t tried to use his advantage against him. He had been so tired because the day before he had spent it on an important mission which no other jonin had available to take, at least not without sending someone whose skill weren't quiet what was needed. Kakashi had been so exhausted last night that he wouldn’t have noticed if Naruto had burst into an off-key song next to him. 

Ruefully, Kakashi had to admit to himself that if the situation had been reversed then he would have pulled back the mask. His need for intel was too long ingrained to let something like social niceties get in the way. _Which rather makes me a hypocrite,_ Kakashi thought, because if Iruka had looked than Kakashi wouldn't have wanted anything to do with the other ninja. Oh, he'd still treat him as one of his comrades, of course; they were both Leaf shinobi. Only Kakashi would never again have considered him as a possible friend. 

But Iruka _hadn't_ pulled the mask down.

Once again in less than twenty-four hours, the jonin found his respect for Iruka rise several more notches. It was getting to the point that he was having more respect and trust in the chunin than he‘d ever expected to have considering they hadn't been acquainted for long. Kakashi didn’t know how to feel about that. 

Kakashi was distracted from further mental musings by the scent of something delicious coming from the kitchen. His stomach rumbled as if demanding he hurry along so it could get food. He walked out of the bedroom and headed over to the kitchen but before he reached it he caught sight of the living room and the messy state of a blanket on the couch. At least now he knew where Iruka had spent the night. He felt a flicker of guilty over kicking the other man out of his own bed and resolved to find someway to make up for it. After all Iruka hadn’t asked to have a jonin fall unconscious on him. 

He peeked over the entrance to see Iruka wearing over his clothes a plain white apron with the words ‘KISS THE COOK’ printed in bright red, He flipped a pancake into the air and onto the thick stack behind him. Soon a second pancake came flying over and landed on the an empty platter, a third and fourth pancake stacked neatly on top of it.

Kakashi’s visible eye widened at the amount of food on the table. Not just the pancakes, but there was also a huge jug of maple syrup, two plates with eggs and bacon as well as a basket full of various fruits. There was even a chilled pitcher of orange juice next to two empty glasses on the table. His stomach gave a loud rumble and caught the chunin’s attention.

“Good morning, Kakashi-sensei,” Iruka said cheerfully. “I hope you slept well.”

“Yeah, um…” Kakashi said, as he rubbed the back of his head. “Sorry about falling asleep on you and forcing you out of your room.”

“Don‘t worry about it.” Iruka smiled at him and waved at the food. “Have some breakfast!”

“That‘s a lot of food.” 

Iruka flushed and admitted ruefully, “I woke up earlier than I planned so I decided to make some breakfast then I got a little carried away. Ummm.... I'm used to feeding Naruto.”

Kakashi’s eye curved up in joy. He said teasingly, “I can see that. Nice apron.”

Involuntarily, Iruka looked down at his chest and felt his cheeks turning red again. He hadn’t even noticed with apron he’d chosen to wear. Naruto had given this to him as a joke because he would always be feeding the boy something. Or at least trying to make him eat. He reached up to his neck to pull it off when a gloved hand stopped him.

The chunin looked up in surprise. Kakashi was close, very close to him. Iruka was too startled to jerk back. The silver haired man was still smiling, then he bent closed and pressed a kiss on Iruka’s cheek, before he darted away to the table. Iruka stood in place, stunned, with a hand clasped to his cheek. The kiss was pressed through the jonin’s mask and didn’t actually involve any physical skin contact but the lack didn’t affect his reaction to it. Suddenly, the apron that he usually had shoved to the back of his cupboard and ignored became his favorite one in the world.

Kakashi looked back to see that Iruka had not moved from his spot and felt a slight blush begin to heat his cheeks. He mentally thanked the mask for blocking any sign of it. He didn‘t know why the urge to kiss the other man had cropped up, all he knew was that he had to follow through. Kakashi called back to the teacher, “Maa… sorry about that Iruka-sensei, but I just had to obey the apron.”

His words snapped Iruka out of his bewildered state. He was able to gather his wits about his enough to tease right back. “Oh, so the great Copy Ninja Kakashi has an exploitable weakness? The unstoppable urge to obey aprons?” Iruka couldn’t help but laugh at the ridiculousness of such a thing. “Now I’m the one that has great blackmail material.”

Kakashi laughed with the chunin. He admitted to himself that at this very moment, here in this strange kitchen, he was happier and more relaxed than he had been for a very long time. Even his most paranoid scenarios couldn't see the danger here. “Let‘s eat,” he suggested, eager to try the tantalizing breakfast.

Iruka carefully turned off his stove and put the dirty pan in the sink before joining the other man. He sat at the table and pulled out a newspaper being careful to spread the pages in such a way so he could eat with one hand and not be able to accidentally peak over at the jonin.

Kakashi was amused. He could tell that it was a deliberate and considerate action, designed to give him the chance to eat, slow enough that he actually tasted the meal, without accidentally revealing his face to the other man. Smiling, Kakshi avoided the amber colored syrup and instead added a generous handful of eggs on top of his pancakes. He wasn't particularly partial to sweet stuff and he was relieved that Iruka had left him the option to avoid the syrup. 

The only sounds the filled the kitchen were those of food being chewed and swallowed and the occasional rustle of page as Iruka read the articles in the paper. Kakashi had to force himself to slow down at several points throughout the breakfast. He was so used to eating quickly that he normally didn’t take the time to enjoy the taste of each bite. It had been too long since he’d had such a home-cooked meal that he wanted to savor all of it. His last couple of meals other the ramen he got last night had been field rations (more than one morning he'd spent eating ration bars instead of dealing with the hassle of needs to buy groceries to stock his bare cupboards), so getting a home-cooked meal was a treat. Kakashi couldn’t help but linger over the food yet all too soon he finished. He refastened his mask and rubbed his full belly, every inch of him radiated happy satisfaction. 

“That was delicious,” Kakashi said, content. “Thank you. You didn‘t have to cook for me.”

Iruka waved a piece of bacon in the air dismissing the thanks. “You were my guest,” he said, still behind the newspaper, “I would hardly be good host if I let you leave without feeding you.” It also allowed him to show off his culinary skills without being too obvious of trying to discover if Kakashi was the sort of man whose route to his heart lay through his stomach.

“You can look now,” Kakashi said. Iruka looked over his paper to see Kakashi’s eye curved with happiness. 

Iruka flushed. “Was I really that obvious?”

“As easy to read as my favorite book!” Kakashi joked, and got an idea. “Speaking of which, I was thinking of getting you a copy of it as a thank you!”

Iruka blanched. He hated that book series with a passion. “Err.. Thanks but no thanks, Kakashi. I…I really don‘t read those books.” It wasn't that he was a prude, his lecherous thoughts about Kakashi were proof of that, but rather that Jiraiya-sama's works were rather... childish wasn't exactly the right term considering the content but it was the first word which came to Iruka's mind. Childish and so far from reality that Iruka honestly wondered if Jiraiya-sama had ever been in a long-term relationship that wasn't purely fantasy. There was only one book of Jiraiya-sama's that Iruka kept in his home and 'The Tales of the Utterly Gutsy Shinobi' was going to remain the only one.

Kakashi was crushed, he had always hoped to find someone to share his favorite books with. Iruka had seemed like the perfect candidate to be fellow fan. “Oh, I see.”

Iruka noticed his pained tone and tried to placate him. 

“I wouldn‘t object to getting another history book to add to my collection of texts I use to teach my classes.”

Now Kakashi was horrified. He was giving the chunin the chance to get an entertaining book, like ‘Icha Icha Paradise’ and the man wanted a history book. A _history_ book. And here Kakashi thought that _he_ was prone to overworking. Iruka-sensei may actually have him beat in getting the title of workaholic.

“No, that's too boring,” Kakashi said firmly and leaned over into Iruka’s face, staring intently as if he could _will_ the chunin into changing his mind. Iruka leaned back. 

“Hey,” Iruka protested. “I happen to like history books.”

The disappointed look that Kakashi sent him made him squirm. He hated to see it on the face of someone whose opinion mattered to him. 

“You’re getting a fun book,” Kakashi insisted.

“It’s been ages since I’ve bought myself a book to read simply for fun.” 

“Then it‘s long overdue.” Kakashi sat back, satisfied. “And you‘re still not buying it. I am.”

Iruka gave Kakashi a suspicious look. He may have a huge crush on Kakashi that clouded his thinking in regards to the man but that didn’t mean that he trusted the jonin not to buy one of the 'Icha Icha' series in order to try to convert him. “If you’re going to go to a bookstore, I’m coming with you.”

“Let‘s go now!” Eagerly, Kakashi stood up. He was ready to head out.

Iruka didn’t move from his chair. He just looked amused, and Kakashi sent him a puzzled look. “I have to had over to the academy to teach my students,” Iruka reminded him. “Also, don‘t you have a mission with the team today?”

“Oh, yeah.” Kakashi blinked. He shrugged, “I forgot your brats probably wouldn't like it if you showed up late.”

Iruka snorted as he tried to suppress the bubble of laughter in his throat. “How about we meet after our previous engagements?” he suggest, quietly thrilled at getting to spend more time in the other man's company.

Both ninjas agreed to meet later in the day outside the biggest bookstore in the village. 

Iruka was so busy enjoying his meal with Kakashi that he almost failed to notice the time on the clock on the wall. When he finally did notice, his brown eyes widened in shock. He apologized to the jonin for running out as he frantically gathered the materials that he needed for his class. Iruka nearly forgot the stack of graded papers that he’d completed the previous day until Kakashi handed them to him.

He shot the man a grateful look and nearly ran out the door when Kakashi’s arm shot out, grabbing the back of his flak jacket. Iruka nearly choked due to the sudden stop and turned to glare at the jonin, who just smiled and pointed to the front of his clothes. The brunet looked down and was stunned to see that he was still wearing the ‘KISS THE COOK’ apron. 

“Ah,” Iruka said sheepishly as he peeled it off. He thanked Kakashi for noticing and this time ran out the door without interruptions.

Kakashi stood in the silent kitchen while trying to decide what to do next after his daily stop by the memorial. He could always meet up with Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura since they were expecting him in an hour but he suspected that if he showed up on time he’d give them all heart-attacks. He consoled himself with the thought that if they freaked out they wouldn’t be any good on the mission. So the best thing to do, for the well being of his students of course, was to arrive as was his usual habit: late!

Ah, he was such a good and thoughtful teacher.

He snapped his fingers as memory of his students triggered the recollection of all those pictures he had taken the night before. He should probably go get them developed while he still had a chance, and before he forgot again. And with Sasuke and Naruto as his subordinates Kakashi would probably need to use the photos for blackmail sooner rather than later.

Kakashi whistled cheerfully as he jumped up to the roof of Iruka’s house and started jumping towards the location of the only camera shop in the Hidden Leaf Village. It was owned by a family, three generations, all obsessed with photography. Not only were they famous photographers of various styles but they also sold equipment, cameras, film and for a nominal fee developed the film for customers. 

The head of the photo-clan, Shashin, was well known to Kakashi. He’d been the one assigned to take Kakashi’s genin graduation picture, and nearly every successive picture of the jonin since it. Kakashi fondly recalled the shouting matches they got into every time the old man would try to convince him that the only way to take a good head shot was without his black mask. 

Kakashi had yet to lose an argument. Never mind, that he usually won by creating a shadow clone, knocking the old man out and taking the picture himself. 

Arriving at the photo shop, the jonin stopped and shaped his hands into a seal. With a puff of chakra smoke he vanished only to reappear on top of the sales counter inside the store. 

“Aarrrgggh!” yelled the poor cashier at Kakashi’s unexpected arrival. In his shock the cashier fell backwards onto the wooden floor. The cashier was a thin, dark haired, and serious looking young man. He glared up at the jonin. “Don‘t do that!”

The silver haired man raised a hand in greeting. “Yo, Firumu!”

“Oh gods, not you,” Firumu moaned, as he picked himself up. He looked around desperately. “Do you know what Father would do if he saw you here?”

“How is Shashin?” Kakashi asked, as he hopped off the counter and headed for a display of film canisters.

“He was fine,” the young man said sarcastically. “I don‘t know whether that‘ll continue to be true if sees you.”

“What are you talking about?” Kakashi asked cheerfully. “That old man loves me.”

“Loves the thought of killing you,” Firumu contradicted the jonin. “He’s practically declared kill-on-sight orders to the entire clan in regards to you.’”

Kakashi just smiled cheerfully, his eye curbing in its customary amused manner. “What a kidder! Tell the old geezer hello from me.”

Firumu stared in disbelief at the other man then let his head hit the counter with a loud thump. He repeated this motion a couple more times before starting to mumbling ‘kill me now’ over and over again.

Kakashi ignored him. He picked up various kinds of roll of film, including a special kind which used chakra to activate it. He quickly picked what he wanted then slowly browsed the rest of the store, deliberately trying to drive the young man at the counter insane. When the muttering transformed to occasional pained whimpers, Kakashi decided to move on. He didn’t really want to explain to Shashin how he had managed to snap the mind of his youngest son.

The jonin dropped his purchases next to Firumu, who leapt upon them as if they were his last hope of salvation. The young man quickly rang up the price and Kakashi forked over his cash. Firumu was ready to shove Kakashi out the door when the jonin remembered the film he wanted developed. The poor cashier almost tore out his hair as he gave the back of the store fearful glances.

Kakashi spread out a small fan of three film canisters. “Can you have these done by later today?”

“Yes! Yes!” Firumu told him frantically. “Anything! Just get going!”

“Ahh, such friendly service,” Kakashi grinned. “I really have to let your boss know how much I enjoyed shopping at your store.”

Firumu turned paper white.

“Just kidding!” Forming a seal, Kakashi vanished from the store. The jonin still had one more place to visit before he met up with the genins.

“What‘s that noise? Are you giving a customer a bad time, Firumu?” yelled a gravely male voice from the back of the store.

“No, father!” Firumu shouted back. He said quite honestly, “There‘s no one in the store!”

The stressed young man collapsed to the floor and shook with relief. That had been too close for his comfort. He swore that next time he would get one of his older siblings to take over the morning shifts, it was the only time Kakashi ever visited. 

He whimpered as he remembered the three rolls of film waiting for him on top of the counter. He leaped up to give them looks of wide-eyed terror. That meant that the jonin would be coming back! In the evening! And he had promised to cover that shift for his sister!

Firumu resumed his earlier action of continuously knocking his head against the counter.


	5. Someone On the Mind

Naruto could barely look at Sakura as the team stood around waiting for their sensei to show up because every time he did he got nasty flashbacks on this morning and the so-called plan.

Kakashi was tardy, as usual, although this morning it was actually a relief. The whole team had left Naruto’s house rather late. They gotten so caught up in talking and planning that it was only when Sasuke noticed the position of the sun did they realized they were nearly an hour overdue for the rendezvous with Kakashi-sensei. 

The blond boy was still thinking of the plan: ‘Get Kakashi-sensei for Iruka-sensei’. Sakura had thought it up and named it. It was twisted, it was scary, it was so desperate that it could actually work. But that wasn’t what really worried the boy. No, Naruto was more concerned with how the plan would affect Iruka-sensei if they didn’t manage to succeed. He didn’t want one of his favorite people in the world to be hurt, not in any way. And if Iruka-sensei cared for Kakashi-sensei and Kakashi-sensei rejected him. Naruto winced at the painful thought. He hoped-- wished –no, _prayed_ – that Iruka-sensei would forgive him. Naruto wouldn’t be able to stand it if he never spoke to him again. Just the thought alone made his chest hurt and tears burn at the corners of his eyes. 

No. He wouldn’t let that happen! He’d be extra careful. Naruto swore on his life!

The team had decided that if he and Sasuke agreed with Sakura’s observation would they then follow through with the plan. If even one of them disagreed about how the two teachers felt about each other then they would abort their self-imposed mission. 

They also planned that at some point during their ‘C’ class mission, either Sasuke or Sakura would make a point of mentioning how Naruto needed to improve his stealth skills, while being careful that Kakashi overheard. That would establish an excuse they could later use if the jonin caught them when they followed him around. 

Naruto had at first protested over having them say that he was the one who needed to improve until Sakura reminded him that it would be true! And if he tried to say the same thing about Sasuke or her then Kakashi would know that they were up to something which is the very last thing they needed. Sasuke had just given him that look which clearly said the same thing with an insulting ‘idiot’ tacked at the end. They also decided they would spent most of the day getting used to tracking Kakashi’s movements before Naruto would leave to try to lure Iruka near the jonin. They planned to use their communicators to coordinate their locations so that they wouldn’t let the older men miss each other.

Naruto glanced over at Sakura. While he fervently wished that she was wrong about Iruka-sensei’s feelings if they turned out to be real, Naruto also really, really hoped her plan worked. It had to work!

“Ready to go?”

Although used to the abrupt way Kakashi would greet them when he finally arrived, Team 7 still jumped at the sound of his voice. Naruto plastered an innocent expression on his face that earned him a suspicious glance from the jonin.

Kakashi looked around but didn’t see any trap or trick that could have put that expression on Naruto’s face so he mentally shrugged and moved on. If Naruto had pulled a prank on someone else then he’d hear about it later and usually straight from the mouth of the angry, screaming victim. Cheerfully Kakashi asked, “Are you ready for today's mission?”

“Yeah!” Naruto yelled, throwing both hands up in the air.

Sakura smiled and nodded once. Sasuke remained expressionless. 

Swiftly, Kakashi pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket and lifted it up so that his genins could read it. He declared, “For our mission today we need to weed and water a garden.”

“What?” Naruto screamed in outrage. He pointed at Kakashi and shouted, “You told us this was a class C mission! Not a class D!”

Kakashi rubbed at his ear to clear the ringing from Naruto‘s yell. “Well… it is a class C mission.”

“It doesn't sound like it,” Sakura said tightly. Inner-Sakura was cursing viciously. Even Sasuke looked annoyed at the thought of such a low ranking mission.

“Oh, it is a class C, it was almost ranked as a B class,” Kakashi insisted with his eye curved up in happiness at being able to tease his students. They were rather cute when they looked so outraged. “The garden is owned by one of the wealthiest families in Fire Country They are collectors of various animals and they keep them in a special garden. So it’s full of different types of animals, including dangerous and venomous ones. You‘ll even need to watch out for some of the plants.”

At the thought of danger, Naruto cheered. Sakura rolled her eyes at the exuberance of the blond, and Sasuke watched him bounce around like a blue and orange, blond haired rubber ball. 

“Let's go!” Naruto screamed.

*-*-*-*

A few hours later, in the assigned garden, Kakashi was up in the largest tree. He’d picked a branch where he could see all around. He needed that altitude because the name garden was a misnomer since the large plot of land had more in common with a small wild forest estate than any garden. It was only the careful cultivation of several of the plants allowed the name garden to be used. And from his location Kakashi could track the movements of his students and react quickly if he had to lend them a hand.

Below him, the genins were trying to catch all the animals to store them in designated cages. The family that had hired them wanted the animals caged first so that they could be taken care of by some veterinarians that would arrive after Team 7 completed it’s mission. Kakashi hadn’t lied to them about the job, they were also to clear the land of foreign vegetation designated as toxic to some of the animals and care for some rare plants that needed special minerals to grow and remain healthy. 

Team 7 had been running around trying to catch all the animals in the park for the last four hours and were finding it to be harder than they expected. Naruto, especially, had a difficult time catching anything, especially a rather fleet footed and rare type of rabbit with antlers similar to those of a deer on its head. From what Kakashi saw the animal was enjoying teasing Naruto. The blond had sworn to capture it after it had sneaked on top his head and thumped him with its big feet.

Sakura and Sasuke had managed to capture most of the animals, varying from the nearly extinct saber toothed tigers to koalas to a pair of giant land turtles. Every once in a while Sasuke would insult the other boy at just the right moment to distract Naruto which in turn made Naruto lose sight of his bunny target. Naruto would then scream in rage at the brunet until Sakura snapped at him before they returned their attentions to their work.

Kakashi enjoyed this all from his branch with his back against the trunk of the giant tree. His favorite book in the world, ‘Icha Icha Paradise’ was pulled out and in his hand. But Kakashi found he didn’t have much motivation to read it. Instead, his lingered on his memories of this morning his breakfast with Iruka. He couldn’t stop thinking of how nice it had been to have someone to talk with in the morning even if all they did was joke around. It made the beginning of the day surprisingly bearable and enjoyable. It had been so long since he’d just relaxed with someone without it involving work. Frankly, Kakashi found it amazing that his good humor lasted even through a visit to the memorial stone. He’d enjoyed sharing the tale of it with Obito, Rin and Minato-sensei.

Kakashi admitted to himself that he probably wouldn’t have looked twice at the chunin if Team 7, specifically Naruto, hadn’t forced them to interact so often and on such a personal level. He didn‘t really count the impersonal encounters at the Mission Office. He hadn‘t even realized that the Iruka-sensei that Naruto always yammered on about was even the same Iruka until Naruto had damn near exploded with joy when he‘d seen the man. Kakashi wasn’t proud at the realization that he probably would have dismissed Iruka as just another chunin and never bothered to get to know the other man beyond the polite facade he’d always gotten before.

Who’d have guessed there also lurked a fiery temper and a sweet sincerity in the chunin that made an intriguing mix.

Absentmindedly, he pulled out a kunai from his holster and began to spin it in mid-air. Every other second the jonin would reach towards it to give it another fierce spin adding to it’s momentum. Soon the razor sharp knife was spinning so quickly that it seemed to be hovering in place. Kakashi soon added another kunai to join the first. Kunai juggling was a surprisingly relaxing skill that he indulged whenever he needed to think and he wasn't on mission.

He mentally promised that he would ratify his mistake of ignoring the chunin. Since they were spending the evening together he would take the opportunity to learn more about Iruka. He was really looking forward to it. Iruka intrigued him, although he couldn’t really lay a finger on exactly why he did. _Spending time with him is bound to solve that mystery,_ Kakashi thought.

Suddenly, his finely honed sense of danger triggered wild mental alarms and even before he’d completely realized it, the jonin was moving. Kakashi grabbed one of the spinning knives and sent it towards Naruto. The boy barely got the chance to yell as he noticed the kunai flying toward him. The blond cringed, shutting his bright blue eyes, as he expected the knife to sink into him.

THONK!

Naruto instinctively looked behind him. There on the trunk of a tree was a large black and red snake with its long, and dripping yellow fangs caught on the knife. The bile colored venom slid along the knife and as hit the ground it sizzled with white smoke. The blond boy gaped at it. He hadn’t even sensed the snake crawling behind him.

“Eh, Naruto, a ninja needs to be aware of his surroundings at all times,” Kakashi called down to Naruto. Sasuke popped his head out of a nearby bush, badly startling Naruto, and gave the other boy a look that was calling him an idiot for nearly getting bit. Sasuke then grabbed the still living snake to take it back to its cage.

Naruto stuck out his tongue at Sasuke. Sasuke gave him another cold look and vanished back into the green-gray leaves of the bush. Naruto began to mumble to himself about an ‘evil bastard’ although anyone who overheard him wouldn't have been able to tell if he meant his teammate or his teacher.

Kakashi hid his happy eye behind his book. While he wished that Naruto was more attentive to hidden, or not so hidden dangers, the interactions between Sasuke and Naruto never failed to amuse him. It was obvious to anyone watching Sasuke that he was always keeping a concerned eye on the blond. Sasuke spent more time watching Naruto and what he was doing then he did anyone else but the other boy never noticed any of the attention. Usually because Sasuke distracted him with a carefully timed insult. The jonin couldn’t wait to see how Naruto would react when he finally realized what Sasuke was doing.

He gave Naruto an amused blink before Kakashi drifted back to his thoughts of Iruka. He wondered about what kinds of books interested the man. He hoped they had similar tastes, or at the very least they didn’t hate each other’s tastes so they would have something to talk about other than just Team 7. It wasn’t until he began planning where they would to eat that evening that Kakashi stopped to wonder at his own thoughts. He was actually shocked at his deep interest in Iruka’s friendship. He hadn’t had a close friend who existed completely outside of his usual jonin and ANBU circles for so long that he had nearly forgotten what it was like to have one.

Actually, he frowned to himself. _Have I ever had a friend who wasn't a jonin, special jonin or ANBU? At least since I've made jonin?_ The fact that he couldn't immediately answer himself was telling. It had been years since he had made the effort to get to know someone outside of a mission because it didn‘t seem worth it because the chance that they could die was too high. He had enough past regrets and mistakes which still haunted him to risk anymore. Kakashi's frowned deepened as wondered what it was about Iruka that made him forget all of that past pain and want to spend time with him?

Kakashi was distracted by a brief frustrated scream. He looked down from his branch to see Naruto chasing a brown and white furred blur. The blond kept trying to catch the animal and kept missing by inches. In a final lunge to catch his prey Naruto propelled himself forward with a large burst of chakra. The clever rabbit sensed Naruto’s increased speed and matched it until once again the boy missed his target. Naruto plowed straight into the grassy ground and left behind a deep furrow before he stopped. Sakura dropped next to Naruto’s still body. Face first on the ground the blond groaned in pain and frustration.

“You need to increase you stealth skills,” Sakura scolded. “Otherwise you’ll never catch it.”

Kakashi peered over his book at his students. He thought Sakura had a good point. As the noisiest ninja in the village, Naruto’s ability to sneak up on people - and bunny-rabbits apparently - was rather pathetic. He could use his speed to get close to someone during a battle but sometimes the ability to silently observe and gather information was more essential to a ninja than the need to launch a quick surprise attack.

Kakashi’s eyes flicked back to his book. He would need to implement some sort of stealth training program for his students at some point this week. Sasuke wouldn’t need much help to improve and neither would Sakura, who learned quickly and had excellent control of her chakra. But Naruto - Kakashi mentally winced - getting Naruto to be silent for great lengths of time would require more patience than he had, even on a good day. Maybe he could ask for tips from that last person that had managed to pound anything into Naruto’s thick skull. Iruka.

With that line of thought, the jonin once again returned to thinking about the school teacher. The chunin was bound to know some tricks to teaching Naruto. Hopefully something other than just feeding the boy ramen. Bribing the boy’s stomach would untimely leave him bankrupt, thought Kakashi wryly. He couldn’t see how Iruka had managed to afford it for all these years.

His mouth dropped in shock as he realized that he was once again thinking about the school teacher. He couldn’t believe himself. The silvered haired man resumed his habit of kunai spinning, still deep in thought. Part of him wanted to run away as fast as possible from the potential pain Iruka represented, but a large part of him also wanted to stay close to the man and get to know him. He admitted to himself that he wasn’t sure what he should do. 

He was still thinking as his right hand caught the hovering kunai and sent it flying in the direction of another of his students. He looked down and froze.

Barely an inch from Sasuke’s twitching hand lay the knife, driven point first into the green grass. Sasuke was like a stone statue, cold and immobile, before he slowly turned to glare up at his teacher. Sasuke’s target had been the odd rabbit Naruto had sworn to catch. Alerted by the thrown kunai, it leaped free into the air. At least until two orange clad arms reached up and caught it.

“Yes!” Naruto screamed in triumph. “I got you now Mister Rabbit!”

“Oops,” Kakashi said to himself. 

Sasuke continued to glare up at his teacher with his eyes hardened into black ice. He had made a bet with Naruto that he would be able to catch the weirdly intelligent, antlered animal before the blond but Kakashi had spoiled his trap. Just as he was about to capture the rabbit-creature and win.

“I won! I won! I won! Now!” Naruto spun around to point at Sasuke with an arm, the other still clutched the slowly suffocating bunny. “You have to do what I say. _Anything_ I say,” the blond let loose an evil cackle. “For TWO days!”

Sakura dropped out of a nearby tree. She glared at Naruto, angry that Sasuke had lost to the annoying blond. Memories of that morning were still vivid in her mind. “You better not make Sasuke do anything perverted,” she growled, her eyes snapping with green fire. 

“Urk,” Naruto said, shocked to the bone. He gathered his wits and yelled, “What kind of guy do you think I am?!”

Sakura yelled back, “Don‘t you think I know what you were doing to poor Sasuke this morning!” Inner-Sakura provided the images, full scale and in color, of the two boys. In them, an evil and lecherous Naruto was taking advantage of a sweet and innocent Sasuke!

“I wasn‘t doing anything,” Naruto yelled back, desperate to let the girl know that he wouldn’t do anything with that cold bastard. Let alone anything perverted. “I told you! That wasn‘t my fault.”

Next to them, Sasuke had quit glaring at their teacher and was slowly turning a pale coral pink at Sakura‘s words. He didn’t even want to imagine what sort of things Sakura thought Naruto and he were doing that morning. He just knew they had to be really bad. Completely nose-bleed inducing bad. He deliberately ignored the small flame of warmth that settled in his gut at the thought. Sasuke sighed, he was also annoyed because now he was at the mercy of Naruto. He didn’t know how he’d be able to escape any embarrassing situation that the blond boy would think up. There was next to zero chance that Naruto would let him escape unscathed. He just hoped it wouldn’t turn out to be too bad. He brooded on the sort of things that Naruto could come up with.

Suddenly, Naruto howled with pain as the rabbit bit him. Upon dropping it the creature immediately darted away. The blond boy immediately pursued, screaming at it to come back.

Above his students, Kakashi was curled up on his branch silently howling with laughter at the image of Sakura busting in on Sasuke and Naruto in bed together. His branch shook and made the leaves vibrate from the force the jonin exerted in trying to prevent the laughter from escaping. 

This is great, he thought to himself. He couldn’t wait to tell Iruka what had happened. He knew the other man would get a kick out of the situation the boys were in. He could just imagine those brown eyes sparking with laughter.

Once again even his entertaining students couldn’t prevent Kakashi’s thoughts from circling back to his real interest: Iruka.


	6. And Back to Iruka

In class that morning, Iruka was equally involved in thinking about Kakashi. Fortunately for him, he had more experience in keeping those thoughts off his face and out of his tone of voice as he lectured to his class. Really, if his students ever realized he was distracted Iruka would be spending too much time yelling at them to regain their attention or chasing down the ones which tried to escape (any student who actually managed to escape would get scolded but also noted in their records their impressive ability to evade a fully trained ninja).

Iruka had spent all morning explaining about the different variations of jutsus and how the differences were influenced by the genes and chakra nature. He lectured, “Chakra, is created within the body. It is the mix of body energy and spirit energy. Everyone has it but only some people are able to access their chakra and use it to perform jutsus when they are trained.” The children looked bored at his explanation since it was something that they had all heard before. Iruka ignored their yawns and continued, “There are some of you that have parents that are ninjas, and already know jutsus that run in your family. Those of you from such families have a skill and in a battle it can give you an edge because normally no one else would have learned to use such skills.”

Several of the kids perked up. The idea of the skills they had learned since before they could walk and had long thought of them as games could actually be used in combat excited them. 

“But there are also those of you who are the first in your families to be accepted into the Ninja Academy,” Iruka said calmly, amused at the sight of those kids drooping in disappointment. “You shouldn't feel left out. That just means that you will eventually be the one to figure out a ninjutsu that is best tailored to your chakra natures. One that you will pass on to your kids.”

At the mention of having kids of their own, Iruka's young students made disgusted faces. Although some of the girls were sneaking glances at their crushes with hearts practically floating in their eyes. Iruka barely bit back a snicker. 

“Today I'm assigning a different sort of homework.” At the dreaded word: homework, several of the kids groaned piteously. “Now, it's not that bad!” Iruka laughed. “I want every student from a ninja family to pair up with someone who isn't from a ninja family. Your will be spending time with each other and your families. The partner from the ninja family will try to understand what characteristics does your family and you possess that allows you to produce a certain type of skill. And the student from the non-ninja family will do the same, but your job will be to figure how those characteristics will allow you to form a jutsu tailored just for you.”

The kids from non-ninja families looked excited at the thought of developing a new skill.

“The reasons you'll be having partners is because sometimes an impartial eye can see things that you miss because you are too familiar with them.” Iruka smiled. “Your partner will be your extra set of eyes and they will also have to observe your family and help you with your mission.”

The students burst in to wild chatter already trying to figure out their partners.

“Now,” Iruka motioned them to silence, “Because thinking up the basics of a new ninjutsu is hard work, you will all have an entire month to do this assignment. Also remember that I will be available to help so if any of you get stuck or have any questions feel free to see me during or after class.”

Several little faces reflected relief. A few still looked worried because the thought of having a classmate meet their families was just too embarrassing.

“Now the bad news,” Iruka said trying to stay serious. The faces his students make never failed to amuse him. “This work is a partnership. So both partners will be given one joint grade upon the completion of a five page report on the development of a jutsu. Now, I don't expect a super-jonin level jutsu so don't waste all your time trying to develop one but I do want to see a skill that is useful and fits your family. Remember, you can also take everything you've already learned at the Academy in order to create this jutsu.” Remembering Naruto's Sexy Jutsu Iruka winced. Hopefully, none of the kids would think of a jutsu in that direction. 

“Just use your imagination! Now get to work!” 

The clatter of his students' excitement grew even louder.

“Iruka-sensei?” a high-pitched voice piped out. 

“Yes, Lotus?” Iruka asked to a small green-haired girl.

“What is your family jutsu?” she asked curiously. She was hoping to get a clue in how one’s skill fit the caster. 

Iruka had been expecting that question, so the flash of grief at remembering his parents failed to show on his face. Lotus' question caught the attention of everyone in the class. Iruka silently wished he could get that kind of focus when he was teaching shinobi fundamentals. 

“My family's jutsu involves water.” Making an odd hand seal that left his forefinger curled over this thumb, Iruka focused his chakra. He focused on pulling the moisture from the air, he was glad that he planned ahead and opened up a window – however tempting a target it was for his students trying to make an escape – otherwise the classroom's air would have become noticeably drier. A heartbeat later, he was surrounded by differently sized bubbles filled with water, they floated all around him. Iruka continued talking, “My chakra types allows me to add a twist.” Inside of his body, Iruka twisted a particular chakra flow. The floating water-bubbles darkened for a moment before beginning to glow with inner golden light.

“Ooh,” said all the kids, impressed by the light.

“It's so pretty!” exclaimed Lotus in delight. She hadn’t been expecting anything so spectacular.

Iruka laughed at that, and sent each student a bubble, a little smaller than apple, so that they could look at it. He knew that he could hold up the bubbles for a couple of hours before the drain on his chakra grew too severe.

Each child eagerly held up their hands so that their bubble plopped right on top. Several kids giggled at the squishy feel of it, others jiggled the bubble to see the water and light swirl around. A couple of boys, were holding their bubbles as if ready to toss them at the groups of girls cooing over their own.

Iruka caught their movements out of the corner of his eye, and to the boys’ dismay the chakra water bubbles vanished from their hands. They looked at the teacher to see him giving them a disapproving look, in turn the boys had the grace to look ashamed.

Iruka shook his head in exasperation. There were times that he envied the teachers that only had to teach the girls the aspects of being a female ninja. Teaching a class with all girls had to be less stressful than dealing with some of the more trouble making boys, he thought. Little did he know that those same teachers often envied his mixed class.

A tug at his hand caught Iruka’s attention. He looked down to see Konohamaru with a sad expression on his face. The brown haired boy, grandson of the Third Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village, asked softly, “What if you don’t have much family?”

Softening, Iruka knelt down next to the boy. Seriously he answered, “Then you will have to look at yourself and to the memory of your parents to help you. Your parents are within you and that will show up if you look for it.”

Konohamaru looked somewhat reassured and went back to his friends with a spring in his step.

Iruka sighed at the memory that his words evoked, it had been the same ones that the Third Hokage had told him when he had tried to figure out how to work his family skill. Before his parents had been killed by the Nine-Tails Fox Demon he had just begun learning it but had never finished. After their deaths, Iruka had grown determined to learn the family skill as part of a personal memorial to honor his family but he’d been having a hard time of it to the point that he had been ready to give up when the Hokage had stumbled across him in the aftermath of his practice. The Hokage had been to one to tell him that his parents’ blood ran in him; they would always be part of him. No matter how much he missed them, apart of them would never leave him.

Since then, Iruka had held those words and may others that the Third had bestowed upon him, close to his heart. For the next years, whenever he feel himself descent into despair and grief over the loss of his parents, he used the Hokage's wise words as a shield to protect himself from such negative feelings. 

The encouragement had helped him and driven him to keep at it. And since he hadn't given up he had been able to reclaim his family's jutsu. Iruka had even been able to refine the family skill beyond that which he knew his parents had used. Just calling up a chakra bubble filled with water would seem like a rather useless skill except when one realized that the bubble would easily be materialized right onto a person’s head. It was nearly impossible to remove so that the victim would swiftly drown. It was one of the most undetectable forms of assassination since removing the bubble would make the chakra created water in the lungs vanish. Only complete lack of markings of on the body and that the death was suffocation would clue in a clever investigator that the killer was a ninja. 

Over the years, Iruka had also learned that he could manipulate the shape of the sphere so that it resembled shurikens or any other sort of weapon. The bubbles would harden into a variety of shapes and could slice through many different materials. He trained himself to hold the shapes even as he slept, although that drained him faster than if he remained awake. 

The aspect of the light in the water bubbles had been a surprise and completely accidental discovery. It had been during a mission as a genin that he found it out. He had been stuck in a cave for several hours and had been in desperate need of light to see his way out. Iruka had called up a water bubble to reassure him, since the feel of one of them in his hands always calmed and relaxed him. Apparently his desire for light had influenced his chakra in the bubble and caused it to glow with a warm golden light. Later he learned that the difference was a result of him having Yin release. Which had startled him consider how rare Yin and Yang releases were.

Currently, what he was trying to get the bubbles to do was to help him fly. Since the bubbles would float and move around still in mid-air, Iruka had thought that they would also be able to carry him. He had practiced carrying various things atop them. The only problem that arose when he did that was that he could only manifest at most three of the larger chakra-bubbles at the same time, which wouldn’t be good in a combat situation where potentially he would need at many as possible. 

Fortunately, His control of his chakra had improved to the point that he had practiced standing on a flat disk version of the water bubble. It had taken him a few tries but the disk would allow him to hover a few feet off the ground while simultaneously moving even though the current speed was rather slower than if he moved on foot. Another drawback to using his chakra to support him in the air was that it used up his energy faster than if he was just on the ground. He didn't have the reserves. Another flaw to the jutsu was the high amount of chakra use would be too easily detectable by enemy ninjas. So at the moment Iruka would only consider using it in a dire situation where he had no other option but to be in the air.

The chunin’s current goal was to get the disk to carry him at least several hundred feet in the air, while moving at a speed faster than a rapid walk. He wanted a speed that would be faster than that of an elite ninja traveling at top speed on the ground. And he hoped to get to that level before Kakashi ever got to see him use it.

Iruka sighed to himself, he knew that his obsession with the older man bordered on the pathetic, and sat down at his desk. He let the kids continue to play with the bubbled water as he pulled out the papers that he had graded the day before. He set them on the desk, being careful to check that they were in alphabetical order, so that when the kids left they would be able to swiftly and easily find their work.

His eyes drifted to the clock hanging over the exit. If Kakashi remained true to form then he wouldn’t arrive at the bookstore for at least a few hours after mid-day. He would have time to eat something and clean up the mess he had left in his kitchen. He would also take a quick shower. He never got the chance to bathe yesterday and his lack of hygiene was really bothering him. You only needed one member of the Inuzuka Clan to comment on your smell as a kid (and how easy enemy ninja could track the stink) and you learned to bath regularly.

Iruka didn’t want to meet Kakashi without having the chance to look (and smell) good. He mentally thanked the fact that he didn’t have to worry about picking out a set of clothes to wear to impress the other man. Iruka knew that his personal sense of style was atrocious (he mentally crushed the voice that sounded too much like Mizuki agreeing). Wearing his ninja uniform saved him from looking foolish before the man who held his fascination.

He fervently hoped that today their friendship would have the chance to develop further. They really only knew each other as teachers and while last night and this morning was a good start towards having both of them develop tighter bonds, actually spending the day together would make that connection deeper. The only drawback which worried him was that it could also be the day which destroyed all hope of something more between them. Iruka fretted that the jonin would find him to be too boring to spend more time with him.

The click of the nearby clock caught his attention. The class time was almost up. He cleared his throat to catch the attention of his students, “Alright everyone, you have five minutes to chose your partner if you don't already have one.” Some of the kids were still too focused on the water-bubbles, so Iruka formed the hand-seals to cancel the jutsu. He ignored the disappointment on his students’ faces as the bubbles popped into wisps of white chakra smoke. 

“Once you have chosen your partner please come up together so that I can keep track of who is partnered with who,” Iruka continued. “And when leaving, please be sure that you pick up your graded homework.” He pushed the stack forward so his class knew where to look. “To everyone that did well, congratulations. Those that didn't do so well, next time take the time to STUDY!”

“Yes, sensei!” the kids called back and scrambled to chose partners. Before too long they had paired up and were chatting with their partner, making plans to meet and begin to work on the assignment. Iruka kept an eye on them but no one was being left out to his mute relief. Soon, his students were stopping by Iruka’s desk to pick up their graded homework. Iruka had to suppress laughter at the faces some of them made at finding out their grade. He also made sure to write down the names of the partners. 

“Iruka-sensei?” Lotus asked softly. She’d been waiting for the chance to talk to the teacher. She had already told him who her partner was.

Iruka looked up from his list and gave the girl an encouraging smile. “What can I help you with Lotus?”

“I-um- I wanted to say thank you. Your water-bubbles were great!” Lotus gushed. Her cheeks pinked with her excitement.

Iruka thanked the green-haired girl before she grabbed her paper and left the class. She was the last student to leave. Iruka thoughts returned to Kakashi as he gathered his supplies. He wanted to run out of the class so that he could get to his home faster, but concern over his image as a teacher made him slow down. Anyway, there was no reason to rush, he had plenty of time. He was just being ridiculous.

He hoped that he would be able to learn more about Kakashi during their time together. The things that he didn’t know about the man, and no one else was willing to talk about bothered him more than Iruka cared to admit. The only problem was that he knew that some there just some questions that were too personal to be asked, at least at the current level of a relationship that they shared but he was hoping that the jonin would share them without having to be asked. Although, Iruka didn’t really think that it was likely to happen considering how tight-lipped all jonin were known to be. Iruka couldn't help it, he wanted to know everything about the other man. Well, everything that wasn't classified above his clearance and therefore none of Iruka's business. He wanted Kakashi to trust him with his personal burdens.

Iruka was so intent on finally being able to concentrate entirely on Kakashi that he didn’t notice how he slowly began to pick up speed and was soon jogging all the way home. He also didn’t notice the startled expressions on the people he swiftly passed by nor the whispered conversations which sprung up in his wake. When he finally became aware of his surroundings he was inside his home.

Iruka gave his living room a bewildered look. He shook his head and set about cleaning the mess from this morning just in case he and Kakashi ended back here again. He blushed to himself at that thought. He knew it was impossible but he couldn’t help but hope that they did end up spending the night together. The chunin silently scolded himself. Iruka knew that it would be a miracle if the jonin bothered to spend any more time with him after he bought whatever book they ended up choosing. As a jonin, especially one in charge of Naruto and the others, Kakashi was bound to have a much busier schedule than a simple chunin school teacher. 

Iruka was distracted out of his depressing thoughts at the sight of the dried remains of the morning’s breakfast. He grimaced at the sight and shoved the dishes and utensils into the sink to soak in a warm water. He would finish cleaning them later especially since he didn’t think he would be able to remove the dried syrup, or bits of egg, without resorting to ninjutsus to help him out. Talk about a frivolous waste of chakra.

Although.... the idea of a household cleaning jutsu was.... intriguing. As a bachelor he needed all the help he could get. The chunin laughed quietly at the thought of dish-washing justu and headed for the shower. The desire to get himself clean was irresistible. He was careful to set the flak jacket, full of the ninja scrolls outside on a hook. While the scrolls were steam, mud, blood and other substances resistant, Iruka didn’t want to risk any sort of accidental damage done to them.

In the shower, he silently stripped off his uniform, the material pooling to the floor before he absently kicked it out of the way. He pulled of his hair tie, and shook his hair loose. The dark strands tickled his neck and shoulders. It was a fairly unfamiliar sensation since Iruka normally kept his hair up in his usual pony-tail style. 

Before he walked into the shower stall, his face, reflected in the medicine cabinet mirror, caught his attention.

Iruka paused and critically looked over his features. In his opinion, it was a fairly unremarkable face, only the long scar across the upper bridge of his nose saved it from being completely forgettable. His eyebrows were thin and dark, his eyes were light brown, his mouth wasn’t too small or too big and his ears fit him perfectly and lay flat against the sides of his head. Only the smooth way that his cheeks flowed along his jaw and into the shape of a firm chin kept him from looking overly masculine or even too feminine. He always thought if he hadn't fallen in love with teaching pre-genin he probably would have made an excellent infiltration specialist.

Even his hair was a completely ordinary brown color. He sighed in disappointment. This was why he had recently developed a mild hatred of all mirrors.

Before his feelings for Kakashi had developed, Iruka won’t have cared how he looked to others. He had often ignored Mizuki's snide comments about his dull looks. Iruka always figured that anyone who was attracted to him would care more about him as a person than anything else. Iruka thought of his face as his face, same way that his nose was only important because he needed to breathe through it, but now? Now, he it bothered him that he was too boring to look at to catch the eye of the silver-haired jonin. Especially one that was so well traveled and had met so many different kinds of people that a common looking guy like him couldn’t be at all interesting.

Iruka impishly made a face at his reflection and finished getting undressed before heading into the shower stall. He knew he sometimes acted like a teenage school girl with her first crush and whenever he caught himself at it he forced himself to stop. _My feelings for Kakashi may drive me to the edge of sanity,_ Iruka thought, _I didn’t need any help in getting there faster._

He turned the knob on the shower. Iruka gasped in shock as the cold spray of water hit his naked body. He cursed fervently. He always forgot to let the water heat up before he got in. He cranked the knob of hot water up and his mild shivers lessened as heat seeped into the water. As he let the hot water pounded away the tension that always developed after a day of teaching, Iruka let himself drift away in thought and as always his mind turned to it’s favorite obsession: Kakashi Hatake. 

He recalled the man’s unique scent. It was a smell he would carve into his memory until the day he died. Kakashi's scent reminded him of the clean crisp air after a thunderstorm, the lingering bite of iron and a musky woodsy smell found in the least traveled forests of Fire Country. This recollection triggered the memory of how he had learned the scent in the first place. Instantly, Iruka remembered holding Kakashi’s gorgeous body in his arms. The scent had been faint as if the man had been using scent-suppressors but after his long day the suppressors had begun to wear out and the scent had been strongest in Kakashi's hair. 

Iruka shivered as he felt himself hardening. 

He licked his lips, tasting the clean water and tried to figure out if he had the time to indulge in a brief fantasy about the jonin. Then he shrugged to himself. He knew if he didn’t let lose some tension he was likely to give away his attraction to the other man, which he was _not_ ready for. Part of his mind laughed at him for coming up with such a flimsy excuse.

Iruka closed his eyes as he pictured kissing Kakashi. Both of them would be naked and in the shower together. He would wrap an arm around the other man's slim but muscled waist and pull him close. Kakashi would hold him just as closely. Their naked bodies would entwine around each other. Their stomachs would be pressed close. Under Iruka's hands, Kakashi's skin would be slick with water from their shower. 

They would kiss slowly, letting each kiss grow hotter. Their tongues dueling and exploring every inch of the other man’s mouth. The burn of arousal in Iruka's blood spiked higher and higher.

Iruka would feel a caressing hand move from his shoulders with clever long fingers following the line of scars down his back until Kakashi's hand grasped one cheek of Iruka's ass. Kakashi would kiss down to his neck, lightly biting at the thin delicate skin his collarbone. Iruka’s spine flexed and he would grind his growing erection against the other man. Kakashi’s firm pecs made a wonderfully soft and solid surface to rub against. He’d feel Kakashi’s erection bump into his hip as he in turn used Iruka's shower wet skin

He would let the jonin push him against the tiled wall of the shower. With the wall at his back he could use it to increase the friction between both of them. Iruka gasped and let his head fall back against the wall. A low, long moan escaped his mouth. 

The sudden loss of the other man’s heated body would make him jerk forward in protest. Iruka would open his eyes to see Kakashi sink to his knees. The mental image of seeing the silver haired man opening his mouth to take in his cock made the chunin whimper. 

The feel of the moist and hot mouth on him made his pleasure surge to new heights. Kakashi’s wicked tongue, flicking and licking made him let loose a low, throaty groan.

Iruka panted in desperation at the feel of two masculine hands gripping his hips and moving him deeper down that gorgeous pale throat. A high-pitched whimper escape him and Iruka shoved one hand into his mouth to stop such a pathetic sound.

It was too much for him and with a muffled shout he came. 

Iruka let his body lean against the wall for support as his weakened knees trembled. 

After a few minutes passed, Iruka opened his real eyes to the empty shower stall. He sighed in disappointment. The hot water continued flowing over him but it now felt colder than before, or maybe just emptier.

The realization that Kakashi had never even kissed him with such passion was always the greatest source of disappointment which ruined any sign of an after-glow. Iruka shook his head, droplets of water flew from his hair. He increased the force of the water and returned to cleaning his body. The water washed away everything and left his body completely clean but he wished it could do the same for his lingering loneliness. 

Iruka needed to hurry up. The shower had taken longer than he’d planned. He may love and admire Kakashi but if he ever picked up his habit of always arriving late then he would never be able to let himself live it down.


	7. The Book Hunt

At the end of the mission, Kakashi had stepped in to help his students finish on time. He didn’t want to be too late to meet with Iruka after all. No matter how justified his reputation was for never being on time, Kakashi didn't want the school teacher to give up on waiting for him. After the genins had captured all the animals, the real time waster had been finding the type of plants that were considered weeds by the family that owned the wild life garden. Some of the plants were rather small or were so rare they were only able to recognizable them by the botanical scrolls provided by the family.

Sasuke and Sakura were slowed down in their work since they had to waste time keeping an eye on Naruto to stop him so the boy wouldn’t accidentally destroy one of the rare valuable plants. Which made their pace as slow as a snail. Kakashi hadn’t planned on helping them out but as each hour slowly passed by he grew more and more tense over leaving his team in time to meet Iruka. Unlike Team Seven, Iruka didn't have to stick around and wait for Kakashi to show up. So Kakashi used some shadow clones to speed up the completion of the mission.

With Kakashi’s help the team finished the mission a little after 6 o’clock. After the job was completed, Kakashi dismissed his students to go home to rest. He was so focused on immediately heading towards the bookstore that he didn’t notice the hidden figures of his students trailing behind him.

The Hidden Leaf Ninja Academy had finished for the day just a couple of hours previously. As Kakashi jumped from rooftop to rooftop he hoped that Iruka was still waiting for him. And if he wasn’t... Kakashi winced at the wave of disappointment that filled him. He just hoped that hadn’t happened.

One last jump from a large building near the center of the village sent him falling through the air. He aimed his body for a slim light pole. As he hit it, Kakashi’s gloved hands curled loosely around the pole and his momentum sent him spinning around it. He spun, once, twice, and three times around the pole before letting go. He fell sideways feet first towards the side of a shop. The jonin was careful to hit the wall without the window, feet first, bending his knees to control his motion and to absorb the kinetic energy from the fall. He pushed off the wall and did a slow forward spin to land on his feet, and perfectly straight right before the entrance of the book store.

A slow clapping came from the side of the store.

Kakashi turned to see Iruka clapping and smiling at him. “Great entrance,” Iruka teased him. “And here I thought ninjas had to be good at _not_ being noticed.”

Kakashi grinned at the other man and joked back, “I never said I was a normal ninja.” The jonin's sigh of relief at the sight of Iruka was muffled by his mask. He had been really worried that the man wouldn’t be there. Half conceived plans to find the man, if he'd left, and drag him back to the store melted away. 

Iruka laughed loudly, an unrestrained and unabashed sound which made Kakashi’s smile grow wider. Fascinated, he stepped closer to the other man, not bothering to fight the urge to invade Iruka’s personal space as he was drawn in by that bright laughter. Iruka’s boisterous laughter faded away and he blinked as he realized how close the jonin had gotten to him. He didn’t get a chance to react further or even think on it because Kakashi grabbed his arm and dragged him into the bookstore.

*-*-*-*

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura nearly had to their abort their mission when they first tried to follow their sensei.

They hadn’t thought that Kakashi would travel by rooftop and when they had trailed him they had noticed that there was very little cover to hide behind on those roofs. They ended up having to stay further behind the jonin than they had initially planned. Kakashi gained such a lead that they nearly lost sight of him on more than one occasion. They were able to finally catch up to him at Kakashi’s final leap. Naruto had been openly impressed by the jonin's taijutsu. Sasuke was expressionless as always. Sakura had gasped, while Inner-Sakura loudly accused their teacher being a total, shameless show-off.

They had then been stunned immobile to see Iruka laughing next to Kakashi. They didn’t think that the school teacher would be the person whom Kakashi was meeting. They were still mentally adjusting when both men entered the bookstore.

“Hey!” Naruto protested loudly at seeing Kakashi grab and manhandle Iruka into the store.

“Quiet, dummy!” Sasuke hissed frantically. “Do you want them to see us?”

Sakura joined in glaring at the loudmouth.

Naruto crossed his arms and sulked, his scowl gathering storm clouds of outrage. “Kakashi-sensei didn't have to drag him around like that!” The blond ignored how possessive of Iruka-sensei his voice sounded.

Sasuke gave Naruto a judging look before shaking his head in exasperation. 

“Let's go,” Sakura whispered. She began raising from a crouch to jump down to ground level.

“Wait,” Sasuke interrupted her. His teammates turned to look at him. Sasuke held out his communications radio and said, “We should use these now. If we need to get separated from each other at least we'll be able to stay in touch.”

“That's a wonderful idea, Sasuke!” Sakura said enthusiastically. Inner-Sakura waved a banner declaring ‘Sasuke is the most intelligent guy in existence’. 

Next to her, Naruto steamed angrily, turning green with envy. He promised himself to come up with something that would show that _bastard_ that he was the smarter one, believe it!

Sasuke ignored the compliment since it was just standard procedure when trailing a target. He turned on the radio by depressing a small blue button on it’s side. Sasuke put in on, and was also careful to hide the wire with his hair so that if anyone caught sight of him then they wouldn’t realize what he was up to or wonder why a genin was wearing a team communication tool in the middle of the village.

He waited until his teammates were plugged and set to go before walking over to the side of the wall which dropped down into a small alley. Sasuke jumped over and flexed his knees to land easily. Naruto and Sakura followed close behind him. 

They walked out of the alley and into the store, trying to seem like normal teenagers looking for a good book. Team 7 tried to be careful to not be noticed by anyone as they entered the store. Each genin ran to hide the second they were inside. 

Sasuke slowly peeked over a stack of books to see if Kakashi was in sight. He whispered into the communicator, “Target not in sight. Coast is clear to move.” Sasuke left his spot and moved further inside the store to the next hiding location. He took his normal position as point.

At his words, Naruto and Sakura moved out to follow. Naruto followed Sakura, for one staying serious and looking out for either teacher. The pink haired girl, used to the middle position, absorbed all the information on her surrounding that her senses could take and began planning various moves. Her sharp green eyes spotted several positions where a ninja could remain completely hidden. She also noted the places that they should avoid because while some looked like great hiding places they were actually visible from other angles in the store. She whispered her observations and suggestions into her communicator where Naruto and Sasuke should move to next.

Both boys gave her their agreement. All three then headed for their next positions making sure to keep their eyes opened for their targets.

Unnoticed by all three genins, the owner of the shop was giving them all weird looks. He usually greeted his customers as they entered his shop but Team 7 hadn’t given him the time to speak. He sighed and shook his head in exasperation. He should have known that moving the shop to Hidden Leaf Village all those years ago would mean that his life would be full of strange and interesting occurrences. 

All he wished was that he’d known in advance just how _weird_ these Konoha ninja could get.

*-*-*-*

After being dragged inside, Kakashi refused to let go of his grip on Iruka. The poor school teacher barely got the chance to nod a greeting to the owner, as the jonin dragged him to the back of the store. 

The store was set up so that the entrance and the first floor was full of kids books and larger brightly colored toys. The design scheme continued to the back of the store where the young adult section began. It wasn’t until one climbed to the second floor did a customer notice that the section for adults. 

Iruka didn’t mean to be opportunistic but since he was stuck behind Kakashi’s back, he took the time to scope the older man's body. His eyes especially lingered on the jonin‘s firm and muscled rear end. He couldn’t even dredge up any feeling of guilt about ogling. Hell, the man didn't slack off in his taijustu training. It was only natural to appreciate the results. 

Iruka rather suspected that he had a stupidly huge grin on his face. 

Kakashi knew exactly where he wanted to go. They climbed to the second story on the store where the books targeted to adults were held. He skirted around the abysmally small horror section. He knew that Iruka wouldn’t have any interest in that genre. In all of Konohagakure, anyone over a certain age, who had been in Konoha when the Nine-Tails Fox Demon attacked had seen too much blood and horror to be entertained by it in a written format. This went double for the village’s shinobi.

Only the children’s section was large since they didn’t know the truth of real horror.

Kakashi suddenly stopped before the fantasy section. Iruka, distracted as he was, didn’t have the time to come to a complete stop and slammed right into him. Both men fell over. Iruka blushed as he noticed that he was laying on top of Kakashi. He scrambled off, mumbling apologies to the jonin, and he reached out a hand to help Kakashi up. The silvered hair man grabbed the arm but instead of letting himself be pulled up, Kakashi dragged the brunet down.

Startled, Iruka lost his balance and fell right next to the jonin. Having taken in how the chunin had dropped his defenses, Kakashi took the opportunity to attack Iruka's sides. He dug his fingers deeply enough to get past any mesh armor, using his knowledge of the chunin uniform to find the weaknesses in the metal plating.

Iruka let loose a squeak of shock before a fountain of giggles bubbled out.

“Attack of the Tickles Taijutsu: Kakashi's Revenge,” snickered Kakashi.

“Ba-ba-bastard!” Iruka tried to say before he was was too busy laughing and trying to defend himself to respond. Kakashi was too damned quick but Iruka finally managed to shove himself away from the other man’s wicked fingers by planting his knee on the other man's chest and using it to propel himself away. Iruka struggled to suppress his laughter and he had his arms raised in front of him as a defense. Warily, he took a step back keeping an eye on his attacker, remembering too many of Naruto's stories about how damned sneaky Kakashi was when in a mischievous mood.

Kakashi just beamed at him. His visible eye happily curved up. He’d been looking for the chance to get his revenge for Iruka’s attack on him last night. He didn’t think he would get an opportunity so soon. He would have felt a little guilty against using a comrade's trust against him but really Iruka was remarkably adorable for a grown man so he had no one to blame but himself.

“I can't believe you called that a jutsu, Kakashi-sensei,” Iruka said. Warily, he asked, “Truce?” He refused to get near the jonin until the other man agreed.

“Truce!” Kakashi agreed with a laugh. Then the hidden smile grew even wider so that it would have been visible even to a casual observer. “And really, you should just call me Kakashi. After all, I spent the night in your bed last night.”

The burn of a blush rose in Iruka's cheeks but he grinned back, thrilled by the invitation to be less formal. “Well, Kakashi, then you should also drop the sensei with me,” he teased, “even if I didn't get to enjoy my bed last night.”

_Maybe next time, we can both share it,_ Kakashi thought, keeping the thought to himself by a narrow margin. He wanted to tease the other man, not scare him off.

Iruka moved next to his crush. He looked at the brightly colored book covers of the fantasy and science fiction novels. It was a genre that he hadn’t read for a very long time but he remembered enjoying it a lot when he'd been a genin. He drifted over to see if an author he remembered liking had released any new material.

Kakashi was already immersed in reading the back cover synopsis of the stories. Soon, he had a messy pile of novels in his arms. He looked up and saw that Iruka was nowhere in sight. He frowned, set his stack on a nearby table and when in search of the wandering school teacher. To his exasperation, Kakashi found Iruka before the newest textbooks, in a section tailored for pre-genin students and instructors. The chunin was immersed in reading the latest human biology text book.

Iruka didn’t get the chance to protest as the book was yanked out of his hands and he was once again being dragged away by Kakashi.

“I'm not buying you a boring book!” Kakashi scolded. “So don't even think about going anywhere near that section again.”

Iruka gave the books a last mournful look before sighing his agreement. “Ok, ok. I‘ll get a fun book.” He mentally promised his inner teacher that he’d come back at some later date and get his pick of the new textbooks. Some of those looked really helpful for his class, even if they weren't strictly shinobi knowledge. Iruka was the sort of teacher that was always looking for things that would make his class interesting and informative to his student and didn't want each year to be the exact same boring thing. The world changed too fast for some of those changes to not be reflected in teaching. And it it was just one little detail or bit of knowledge helped to keep his students alive once they were out of his hands then Iruka was willing to pour hours of his free time into finding it and teaching it to them.

Kakashi plopped the younger man in a chair before the stacks of books he had picked out. Iruka gave them all a wary look. He dreaded the possibility that some of them would be perverted like the Icha Icha series, or at least as poorly written. Fortunately, his misgivings were misplaced. The books Kakashi had picked out where all with very well developed plots. Iruka was surprised to notice that some were even ones he’d read before and had really enjoyed. 

Among them he found a copy of a book he had always wanted to buy but had never gotten around to it mostly because his extra money kept draining into Naruto's endless stomach. He had found his book. Iruka then found himself hesitating about informing Kakashi about his choice. Iruka knew that once he told the jonin that he had picked his book then he wouldn’t have an excuse to spend time with the man who was the star in his dreams. He wanted to cry out with denial. He just wasn’t ready to part company with Kakashi. At least not this soon. Iruka thought that they would, at the very least, spend an hour just looking around.

He would just have to pretend that he was having a hard time picking a title. In a little corner of his mind Iruka was ashamed by his deception but most of him was too focused on Kakashi to care. Iruka mentally marked the title he wanted and set it back in the stack. Then he went in search of Kakashi, who had wandered off on his own.

Iruka found the jonin looking through the mystery section of the store. He joined him there and grabbed the first book that caught his attention. His selection made Kakashi snort and grab the book out of Iruka's hands.

“Do you have a problem with my taste?” Iruka asked, with a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. He didn’t really care because he’d picked it at random.

“This author always gives the bad guy away,” Kakashi said, disgusted. “Talk about spoiling a good mystery.”

Iruka snatched the book back and pretended to scrutinize it. “Are you sure that it's not because you give in and peek at the end?”

Kakashi, picking up the joking tone, grew teasing indignant. With an imperious voice, the jonin declared, “I have never, not once, at all, spoiled the ending of a story by looking ahead, good sir!”

Iruka was choking down a full scale laugh at the snotty tone of Kakashi’s voice. It was a voice that just didn’t fit the silver haired man’s personality, and it reminded him of some of the more self-important minor lords Iruka had helped to guard in the past. An image of Kakashi addressing his students in such a voice, and the expressions on their faces when they heard it made Iruka lose control on holding in his laughter.

“Shh!” whispered Kakashi, with a finger held up to his masked mouth. His visible eye was sparking with mirth. “This place is like a library. You have to be quiet.”

In response to Kakashi’s words, Iruka clamped his hands over his mouth but choked laughter still managed to escape.

Kakashi's deep sad sigh was clearly fake which didn't help Iruka's self-control at all. Sternly, he told Iruka, “I can't take you anywhere.”

Iruka managed to give a the jonin a negative head shake in response. The school teacher would probably have continued laughing at Kakashi’s antics if not for a reflection which caught his attention. When Iruka had looked up in his head shake, the corners of his brown eyes saw a kneeling Naruto, reflected off a nearby glass display case. Only pure luck allowed the chunin to see the blond boy. It was a really good hiding spot.

Iruka’s laughter died swiftly. His eyes narrowed as he saw Naruto looking over his shoulder. It was obvious to Iruka that the blond boy was trying really hard not to be seen by Iruka or Kakashi. The chunin couldn’t help but suspect Naruto of trying to pull of one of his pranks.

Kakashi grew concerned over Iruka’s abrupt change of mood. He didn't think he'd done anything which toed over the line from teasing to unintentionally cruel. He asked quietly, “What’s wrong, Iruka?”

Determined not to lose sight of Naruto, Iruka didn’t even glance at the other man. His voice was dry as he said, “It seems that you were followed, Kakashi.”

“Eh?” Kakashi asked.

“At the moment,” Iruka continued, a hint of humor leaking back into his voice even if his expression was still serious. “At least one of _your_ students if stalking us.” 

“Ah, yes. I sensed them coming into the store, but I didn't think they'd reveal themselves so quickly.” Kakashi leaned in. “Who do you see?”

“Right now the only one that I see is Naruto,” Iruka answered. “I don't see Sasuke or Sakura but I assume of one them is here with him.”

“They are,” Kakashi said, his visible eye narrowing thoughtfully. “Naruto wouldn't be able to hide himself that well without one of those two helping him out. At least not in this sort of environment.”

“He does have more practice in an outdoors setting,” Iruka said, nodding with Kakashi's assessment. 

Kakashi leaned in to him trying to find the angle which allowed Iruka to spot the blond boy. He pressed against the chunin. The bare skin of his cheek skimmed along the side of Iruka’s face. Any interest in Naruto which Iruka held was abruptly replaced by an intense awareness of Kakashi’s nearness.

Iruka’s cheek felt extraordinary sensitive. His breathing slowed, shallow and stilted. All the brunet could see now was Kakashi, only Kakashi. The familiar clean, warm scent of the jonin filled his nose, and sank into his throat. Iruka swallowed, trying to moistened his suddenly dry mouth. Iruka’s heart pounded like crashing thunder in his ears. He was desperately aware of how Kakashi's shoulder and part of his chest was pressed against Iruka's front. Or how one of his knees bumped lightly Iruka's leg.

“I see Sakura,” Kakashi whispered.

“Umm?” asked Iruka absently. He was trying to focus on what they were doing and not on how good Kakashi felt. And on how badly he wanted to have more of that smooth, pale skin touching his own.

“She's hiding in the shadows of the north-west bookshelves,” Kakashi said. He turned to look at Iruka to see what had the man so distracted. He hadn’t realized how close they had become until they gently bumped noses.

Both men froze. 

They blinked at each other and blushed before stepping apart. Iruka gazed firmly at the ground, wishing that Kakashi hadn’t stepped away so soon. 

Kakashi slouched and rubbed the back of his head, taken aback by the ease in which the Iruka had bypassed his normal defenses, including his awareness of his surroundings and the potential attackers in his physical space. Kakashi thanked, for the umpteenth time, his mask for hiding the stain of red on his cheeks. He flicked a gaze back to the chunin and was entranced by the blush on Iruka's cheeks and over the paler skin of his scar. He gave himself a second before forcing himself to clear all those thoughts away and went back to looking for his hidden students. Kakashi's search was half-hearted at best as his interest kept getting sidelined into refocusing on Iruka. 

The other man joined the Kakashi in looking for the other members of Team 7. Iruka looked back to where he’d seen Naruto but the blond boy was no longer there. It took a bit of searching but he was able to find him again. 

Iruka leaned towards Kakashi, “I found Naruto again. I'm going to go talk to him and find out what's going on.”

Kakashi had never really been able to see the future before, even with his Sharingan eye at times giving him the illusion of being able to do so, but at those words a vision popped into his head. He saw Iruka walking to Naruto and talking to the boy. He also saw Naruto convincing his favorite person to feed him some ramen. Iruka would then leave the bookstore, leaving Kakashi behind. They wouldn't even get the chance to go eat together! 

In the attempt to prevent that woeful future Kakashi grabbed Iruka‘s nearest hand. “Wait,” he hissed quietly.

“What is it?” Iruka asked, his voice equally low. He wasn’t able to stop his hand from tightening on Kakashi’s gloved hand.

Used to thinking quickly on his feet, Kakashi smiled at the chunin and answered cheerfully, “We don't know what they're up to. I think we should wait on confronting them for a bit. That will give us time to try to figure out what they are trying to do.”

Iruka frowned. “You don't think that Naruto is here to pull some sort of prank?” he asked, curious about Kakashi’s answer. It had been the first answer to come to mind

“No,” the jonin said, “Do you really think that Naruto would be able to convince Sakura _and_ Sasuke into helping him with a prank?” He didn’t dare mention the bet that Sasuke had lost to Naruto that morning. And the fact that if Sasuke was doing something, even at Naruto's orders, then Sakura would happily follow along. Also, Kakashi always had the impression that, his supposedly sweetest student, Sakura actually really enjoyed seeing others suffering from Naruto's pranks.

“Well,” Iruka said, “…no. I guess not.” He knew all three kids pretty well. And he couldn’t see Sakura, and especially the stoic Sasuke pulling off the gleeful, disrespectful pranks that Naruto enjoyed. And admittedly, Naruto's pranks had been dwindling in number since becoming a genin. Although he had also developed the bad habit of running pranks with Konohamaru, Udon and Moegi.

“So let's wait and see what they are doing,” Kakashi coaxed. “At least we know they’re there. We also have the advantage since they don't know that we know they're following us. We can get them first if they try anything.” 

Kakashi gave Iruka an inquiring look, arching his visible eyebrow. Iruka nodded his agreement. It made Kakashi smile, under his mask. And since he’d never let the other man’s hand go, he was able to use his firm grip to drag Iruka back to their book search.

Iruka grew so wrapped up in watching Kakashi that he forgot to keep his eye on Naruto. If he had he would have seen the boy’s blue eyes grow huge and his mouth drop in shocked silence. 

Naruto had finally seen what Sakura had noticed.


End file.
